In its annual report, Restaurants Canada shows that the cost of food is the highest its been since the early 80’s.
In their Foodservice Report, they peg food inflation peaking at 16 per cent.
When you put that food into a restaurant, the guest sees the change in the menu price. On average, ordering food at a restaurant went up by more than six per cent since last April.
Business owners expect that they’ll have to raise prices by more than seven per cent to keep up with their own increasing costs and to maintain sustainable profits.
The report cites the conflict in Ukraine and high energy costs as large contributing factors.
After two years of being in a pandemic, many food establishment had to shutter their doors permanently.
Ontario saw the most closures between April 2021 and July 2022 of 1,654 restaurants, with Quebec and BC coming in second and third respectively.
Unsurprisingly there was also a dip in food service sales as there were various lockdowns across Canada.
Prince Edward Island saw the highest increase of food sales of 4.9 per cent from 2019-2022, compared to the country’s lowest increases coming from Newfoundland & Labrador of only a two per cent increase. Most provinces listed saw moderate increases in the two to three per cent range.
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