A well-meaning P.L.C.B. wine program would set a dangerous precedent.
The Plan
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board plans to hand-select restaurateurs as “business partners” and open specialty wine stores inside restaurants' walls. The wines would be chosen to match the restaurants' cuisines. The goal is to improve consumers' access to premium wines that are generally unavailable at state stores.
The Problem
1. The P.L.C.B. would partner with favored businesses that it regulates while competing against others. And the P.L.C.B. would do this without oversight or any open and public bidding process at all. This presents a serious and obvious conflict.
2. The program would create an unlevel playing field. Non-participating wine-driven restaurants and BYOBs would be forced to compete against P.L.C.B.-selected BYOBs that serve specialty wines at the retail price but don't have to buy a liquor license or adhere to the Liquor Code. The chosen few would even collect rent from the P.L.C.B. to boot. That's unfair and would directly harm non-participating wine-driven restaurants and BYOBs.
Pennsylvania's restaurateurs cannot compete successfully against the State on a patently unlevel playing field. And for wine-driven restaurants, competing against the agency that regulates them adds insult to injury. Over time, the result would be fewer wine-driven restaurants and BYOBs, and increased prices with diminished quality in the restaurants that remain.
The Solution
The P.L.C.B. should be applauded for its efforts to improve Pennsylvania's wine situation. We support the state opening boutique wine stores that compete with the best in New Jersey and Delaware. But any new program must be free of potential conflict and maintain a level competitive playing field for all restaurants.
Pennsylvania's restaurant and wine entrepreneurs can work with the P.L.C.B. to build a more wine-friendly state in which all parties win.
