Annual report shows more restaurants closing instead of opening

An annual report by Restaurants Canada shows the hospitality industry hasn't all been booming with business while looking to recover from the pandemic.

While many continue to eat out, the 2022 report highlighted many restaurants are struggling to rebound from restrictions that were put in place during the pandemic.

"Generally speaking they’re busy, about 80 per cent of restaurants are doing their 2019 in volume which is very, very positive,” says the Executive Director of Restaurants Canada, Gordon Stewart.

This being too little for some. The report highlighted 43 per cent more restaurants have closed over the last year in comparison to the amount that have opened.

"We’ve seen all the customers come back now. People are back out and eating in restaurants which is nice. We do face some challenges as far as supply chain goes, staffing of course. Our biggest issue is food costs, we’re really struggling to get food costs under control," says restaurant owner Adam McCullough.

He says those costs have increased by 30 to 40 per cent.

"It’s difficult to turn that over to the customer, we can’t really increase our menu prices by 30 to 40 per cent, so we’ve had to absorb a lot of those costs ourselves," says McCullough.

As a way to counter the issue, some restaurant owners have been opening fewer days, reducing seating capacity and menu items, and cutting hours of operation.

Meantime, adequate staffing appears to be another issue happening across the country.

"Right now the entire sector is operating with a quarter of a million fewer people in the sector, that’s a lot of people," says Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie University agri-food professor.

The labour shortage is currently predicted to last about five years.