Restaurants Canada Congratulates Olivia Chow as New Mayor of Toronto

Restaurants Canada offers our sincere congratulations to Olivia Chow following her successful election as Mayor of Toronto. 

Toronto’s foodservice community is one of the city’s largest employers; not only does the diversity of Toronto’s food scene represent the diversity within the city, but restaurants also serve as one of the most ethnically diverse workforces where youth, women, and newcomers to Canada come to seek opportunity. 

We were pleased to see the campaign commitment to fix the CaféTO program to make the process easier, quicker, affordable and more transparent to ensure certainty and predictability for restaurants and to encourage more businesses to apply – resulting in more vibrant and enjoyable neighbourhoods for Torontonians. 

To the casual observer, seeing restaurants filled with customers or patios bustling on a warm summer day, suggests that restaurant owners must be profitable and enjoying success. That is simply not the case.  Our recent data shows that 53 per cent of Ontario’s restaurants are operating at a loss (35 per cent) or just breaking even (18 per cent). Costs are increasing at an astonishing pace and restaurants are unable to pass along the average 30 per cent rise in costs to consumers.

No industry was hit harder by the pandemic than the foodservice sector, and the industry still has a long road to recovery.  We look forward to working collaboratively with Olivia Chow and council to ensure the recovery and sustainability of Toronto’s food scene.

*Photo credit/source to: https://www.oliviachow.ca/