A new report shows that 44 per cent of restaurants in Canada are making very little profit or are just breaking even as we head into 2026 on this, one of their busiest weekends of the year.
Janick Cormier of Restaurants Canada says establishments might even show an increase in sales of one or two per cent but if their costs have gone up by 11 or 12 per cent, hello red ink.
Cormier says it’s not only food that costs more – it’s virtually everything in the chain.
Janick Cormier, Restaurants Canada (submitted)
She says Newfoundland and Labrador presents a whole set of different challenges as a full 25 per cent of the population is at least 65 years old, the first province in Canada to achieve that distinction.
Cormier told the Tim Powers Show on VOCM that temporary foreign workers make up only about three per cent of their labour pool., but they fill critical roles.
“No cook, no food, no restaurant I often say. It doesn’t mean that you need 100 of them per restaurant, but if you don’t have a chef or cook or somebody to do dishes out back, it’s really hard to keep the doors open.,” says Cormier.
