Last year, Canadian restaurants took in roughly $100 billion in revenue, more than the pre-pandemic year of 2019. This year it's pegged to be $110 billion. Yet a third of all restaurants report they are losing money, up from just seven percent before the pandemic.
Even as lockdowns eased and diners returned, a complex set of problems face restaurants in particular—and now the industry's lobby group says we're beginning to see double the numbers of closing as openings. How did this happen, and how do we keep small, local restaurants afloat?
GUEST: Kelly Higginson, president and CEO of Restaurants Canada