TORONTO — Members of the media gathered recently at and/ore Restaurant in Toronto for the RC Show 2024 Media Preview event, which offered a sneak peek into programming at the show, as well as the latest industry data and forecasting from foodservice experts.
“Times have changed since Restaurants Canada was founded as the Canadian Restaurant Association in 1944, but our purpose truly remains the same — to help foodservice businesses grow and prosper,” said Kelly Higginson, president and CEO of Restaurants Canada. “At the 2024 RC Show, we’ll do just that, sharing how the industry can elevate businesses, teams and service excellence through innovation and growth as we work towards our vision of vibrant and thriving food service communities across Canada. It has been a challenging four years for the industry. We’ve seen an incredible amount of resourcefulness, sacrifice and commitment from the industry to make it through the unwavering headwinds.”
Themed “Level Up,” this year’s show recognizes and highlights an ever-evolving industry where continuous improvement and growth are key to a profitable successful business. “Operators will learn to push boundaries of what’s possible and embrace innovation,” said Higginson. “We want operators to leave inspired, re-invigorated and ready to succeed. Whether they’re aiming to start or expand business, foster a winning team, boost efficiency or enhance the overall quality of service.”
Chris Elliott, chief economist and vice-president of Research at Restaurants Canada led a panel of experts, including Vince Sgabellone, foodservice analyst with Circana; Asad Amin, head of Syndicated Solutions at Ipsos; and Sarah Soteroff, senior PR manager at Too Good to Go.
“When I was approached by the RC Show team to come up with a description for what I was going to talk about, obviously it was going to be about the economy. And the issue is, are we in a recession and how would that impact foodservice sales?” said Elliott to kick off the conversation. “At that time, we had already seen a decline in Q3 economic GDP and there was a lot of uncertainty…because if we did see a recession, it would have a direct impact on foodservice operators.”
Despite mixed prediction, Elliott said, “we actually saw very strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 — so we averted a recession, which is great news. But the challenge is, when we look at the data, consumers are still struggling, they’re really caught in a slump because of high household debt levels, weak consumer confidence, the impact of high interest rates and inflation.”
The result, he predicted, is going to be a challenging climate for foodservice operators in 2024.
“The reality is, when talking about Canadians’ mood and sentiment right now, the best words to use might be testy and irritable; there’s a level of frustration,” agreed Amin. “So, from our Food Service Monitor [data], we know that there is a lot of concern about the economy.”
According to Sgabellone, when looking at the whole population aggregate, “we’ve seen these unfortunate numbers, these troubling figures. But as we dig down to the different cohorts, there are some positive changes that are taking place that’ll help ensure the industry can level up this year, even as we’re facing the challenges.”
One of those, he said, is the Gen Z cohort, who came of age during the pandemic. “Before the pandemic, a lot of them were just students living in their parents’ basement with unlimited income. Now, here we are four years later and the front end of this cohort are 27 to 28 years old and are earning an income. They’re influencing the industry more and more and are the only cohort from a generational standpoint that grew in 2023, taking away share from the millennials, the Gen X and the boomers.”
Sgabellone said this is the up-and-coming generation that the industry can focus on, because they’re still going out and enjoying restaurant experiences.
Soteroff then spoke about sustainability within the restaurant industry, the ongoing challenge of food waste and how the Too Good to Go app can help connect consumers and operators to help address the issue.
“So, if you’re thinking about that Gen Z who wants to order something at 3 p.m., the restaurant might not be selling their lunch menu anymore, but maybe they have some surplus from that 12 to 2 p.m. time that didn’t sell at full price. You can get the food on our app for a reduced fee — it’s usually around 50 per cent to one-third off the original cost — which helps business owners recoup some of that lost revenue that they’re seeing by having to throw away food that doesn’t sell.”
At the end of the day, she said, “we’re a sustainability company, a registered B Corp., and our goal is to reduce the impact of food waste on the environment. About 58 per cent of all the edible food that we produce across Canada goes to waste and there’s about $2,000 of wasted money per family per year. So when we’re thinking about tightening up those budgets and what we want to spend money on, reducing food waste is a super easy way to put money back into the hands of consumers, while also doing the same for business owners who are dealing with having to cut hours, trying to pay more and not having to raise the prices.”
Following the panel and information sessions, attendees were treated to lunch by and/ore’s culinary team, led by chef/owner Missy Hui. The RC Show 2024 starts next week and runs from April 8 to 10 at the Enercare Centre in Toronto.
