Rising food prices: inflation or “greedflation”?
July 13, 2022
Food, whether it is in the grocery store or in a restaurant dining room, is significantly more expensive than it was a year ago. While general inflation, as well as the lasting impacts of COVID-19 and the conflict in Ukraine, have driven this trend, some are placing blame on grocery stores and other sellers for ...Read more about this postDiners being generous with tips despite record inflation
July 12, 2022
Even amid record levels of inflation and resultant rising menu prices, diners are being more generous with their tips. That’s according to new data from Lightspeed Commerce cited by Restaurant Dive collected from 6,000 U.S. bars and fast-casual, casual and upscale restaurants between May 2021 and May 2022. The data recorded that the median average tip in ...Read more about this postOne of restaurants’ toughest tests? Attracting Gen Z diners
July 7, 2022
Capturing diners across all demographics has always been part of the challenge for restaurants. Attracting Gen Z is a unique test, particularly in the current economic and social climate. Gen Z have less disposable money and more competition for how to spend that money than perhaps any other generation in recent history. Throw in the factor ...Read more about this postWhat is Canada’s most wanted menu in mid-2022?
June 20, 2022
By Vince Sgabellone Canadian consumers have shifted the way in which they access and consume from a restaurant menu over the past two years. How they place orders, why they choose to eat out, where they consume their meals, and who is consuming. And what about the “what”? Have Canadians changed what they have been eating? The ...Read more about this postCanadians’ demand for cheese growing despite rising cost of dairy
June 20, 2022
Canadians are still showing high demand for cheese and related products despite an unprecedented rise in the cost of dairy goods. Over the decade between 2010 and 2020, Canadian cheese consumption increased by 15 per cent, according to Statista data reported by Canadian Grocer. Statista has noticed significant gains in the time since 2020, too, and ...Read more about this postRestaurant sales have exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time
June 3, 2022
Restaurant sales in Canada surpassed their pre-COVID-19 levels for the first time since the pandemic began in March, according to Statistics Canada. New data shows that Canadian bar and restaurant sales increased by 6.5 per cent monthly in March to $6.8 billion, reports the Canadian Press. Year-over-year, sales were up 35 per cent compared with March ...Read more about this postGuess who’s coming to dinner? (Plus breakfast and lunch)
May 29, 2022
By Asad Amin No, this title is not the opening to a classic Sidney Poitier remake, although one does exist. It regards the new diner who visits restaurants after a two-year hiatus. It’s not that nobody ordered from foodservice through the pandemic, but considering our lives are very different now than in 2019, there are significant behavioural ...Read more about this postDoorDash releases 2022 online ordering trends report
May 26, 2022
The restaurant industry has dramatically changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and online ordering trends such as delivery and takeout continue to see massive growth worldwide. In Canada, off-premises consumption has experienced 27 per cent year-over-year growth in same-store orders, according to DoorDash. The delivery company and Restaurants Canada have partnered up to release the ...Read more about this postHow is restaurant chains’ recovery manifesting?
May 24, 2022
You’ll have heard this before by now, but the pandemic has changed the restaurant industry forever. Datassential’s fourth annual Firefly 500+ restaurant report highlights many of these core shifts, such as restaurant chains focusing on key markets and unit growth rather than simply sales. The food industry market research and insights company’s Samantha Des Jardins recently ...Read more about this postTechnomic experts highlight the 5 Ps of menu innovation
May 24, 2022
At the US National Restaurant Association Show last week, experts from Technomic offered advice on how to best tailor a menu to encompass trending flavours and combinations and appeal to consumers’ desire to try new things when dining out. Ultimately, the conclusion was that menu innovation doesn’t require a huge menu overhaul if new options ...Read more about this postAssessing the public’s trust in Canada’s food supply
May 16, 2022
Over the past two decades, Canadian consumers have shown an increasing interest in the country’s food supply, including where their food comes from, how it is produced, the environmental impacts of that production, nutritional composition and health benefits, and more. This has only intensified during the pandemic, and a new report from Nourish Food Marketing has ...Read more about this postSome Canadians have lost interest in meal kits
May 16, 2022
Meal kits were growing in popularity before the pandemic, and sales boomed during the first year of COVID-19 with restaurants shut and diners adjusting to a different life of consumption. But it appears some Canadians have since lost their appetite for the services. A recent survey conducted by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in partnership ...Read more about this postCanadian foodservice’s midterm trend report
May 12, 2022
By Katie Belflower At the start of the year, amid what was still significant COVID-19-related turmoil and evolving restrictions and operations, Technomic mapped out a predicted trend report for the Canadian foodservice industry. Now, five months into 2022 and after so much has changed (again) in the industry and beyond, Technomic has compared its new year predictions ...Read more about this postUS full-service menu prices see record inflation
May 12, 2022
Full-service menu prices in the U.S. rose 8.7 per cent in April year-over-year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is the segment’s highest increase since data was first collected in 1997. Overall, the food away from home index rose 7.2 per cent year over year, while the price of quick-service products grew seven per ...Read more about this postBowl value meals & spicy sauces trending; take-home meals, cheese declining: Technomic
May 6, 2022
Technomic’s latest Ignite Canadian menu data report found that while the like of bowl value meals, spicy sauces, and lighter alcoholic beverages are trending strongly year over year, cheese and straight spirits have notably declined. The Ignite data noted declining overall year-over-year counts in entrees (-4 per cent), appetizers (-2 per cent), and sides (-5 per ...Read more about this post