May 9, 2022 By David Hopkins It’s difficult to believe it but we’re already more than a third of the way through 2022. Now, more than two years into the pandemic, Canadian foodservice businesses are continually facing challenges while also experiencing new successes and new innovations. Even as we’re only in the fifth month of the year, there are ...Read more about this post
May 6, 2022 The labour shortage — “The Great Resignation”, as some have termed it — is continuing at varying levels across North American foodservice. But why is is persisting, and what can be done? A new labour report from TouchBistro and 7shifts found that four in five restaurant operators say they are short at least one position. Servers ...Read more about this post
April 28, 2022 By Megan Prevost Recent years have seen a real insurgence of automated technology throughout the restaurant industry. In both quick-service and full-service restaurants, business owners have replaced cashiers with tablet-like ordering devices. In 2022, restaurant automation is all around us. While McDonald’s and Panera Bread are two quick-service establishments known for these devices, more and more businesses ...Read more about this post
April 27, 2022 A new report from Nudge, a Toronto-based mobile platform for internal communications, that examined the state of the Canadian foodservice workforce found significant levels of dissatisfaction among hospitality and foodservice workers. The study found that 40 per cent of foodservice workers don’t feel heard by their organizations and nearly the same proportion (38 per cent) want ...Read more about this post
April 25, 2022 By Geraint Harvey
Last month, unemployment in Canada reached a record low of 5.2 per cent. Alongside low unemployment, many industries saw — and are still seeing — a worker shortage, with the number of job vacancies in Canada reaching 900,000 in January.
Both of these things are good for workers, right?
Prospective employers, desperate for new recruits, ...Read more about this post
April 5, 2022 For many Canadian workers, particularly in intense industries like foodservice, the burnout is real. A recent survey found that 84 per cent of Canadian employees have experienced burnout, with 34 per cent reporting high or extreme levels. Will easing public or workplace restrictions around COVID-19 automatically reverse employees’ pandemic-related burnout? For restaurant staff such as kitchen workers or servers, ...Read more about this post
April 5, 2022 Canada has announced important changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program under the Workforce Solutions Road Map with the intention of lessening the impact of labour shortages on businesses in heavily affected industries. One of those industries is foodservice and food manufacturing. Operators will be granted more efficient and effective access to this crucial program. Effective immediately: To ...Read more about this post
March 31, 2022 Coming out of 2020, few restaurant types were better prepared for the new normal than quick-service and fast-casual, with their streamlined menus, prominent digital presence, and natural inclination towards off-premises consumption. Sales in these restaurants are trending up, and it appears they are also rebounding fairly well from the labour constraints of the last year. A recent ...Read more about this post
March 28, 2022 By Tom Nightingale After such a damaging and painful two years, how does the Canadian culinary and restaurant industry keep young and talented chefs motivated and keen to build a career in the industry? That just might be the million-dollar question amid the high-profile and lingering talk of a labour crisis and the magnified challenges of kitchen ...Read more about this post
March 25, 2022 By Mo Chaar Canada’s inflation is at its highest level in over three decades and the price of food is skyrocketing, but this news does not mean that restaurants have to suffer. Technology has helped restaurants survive some of the most challenging times in recent history, and this time is no different. Restaurants can use technology ...Read more about this post
March 18, 2022 By Vasiliki Bednar and Robin Shaban
With the invention of gig-based platforms like Uber and SkipTheDishes, the gig economy has not just become an integral part of the labour industry, but also digital society as well.
Along with the meteoric rise in popularity of these platforms, many of these companies have “monopsonies” in their industries. A monopsony ...Read more about this post
March 15, 2022 British Columbia has become the first province in Canada to tie its minimum wage to the rate of inflation. B.C. is pushing its minimum wage, already the highest among Canada’s 10 provinces, up from $15.20 to $15.65 an hour starting June 1. The increase is the first to be tied to B.C.’s annual inflation rate, which ...Read more about this post
March 15, 2022 By Maggie Perzyna
Recent media reporting about the hospitality industry has been dominated by stories about mass resignations and workers leaving for white-collar jobs.
Many sources cite a combination of low wages, instability and the lack of a decent working environment as factors pushing workers out of restaurants and into better paying, more secure jobs.
While repeated pandemic ...Read more about this post
March 14, 2022 The Canadian labour market, and particularly that of the foodservice sector, surged back with significant growth in February 2022. That’s according to the latest data from Statistics Canada, which showed that the Canadian economy added 337,000 jobs last month, offsetting the losses in January by a wide margin. The labour force participation rate rose to 65.4 per ...Read more about this post
March 9, 2022 By Laurent May In spite of the challenges of the past two years, there is a future for the restaurant business. Automation has a big role to play, but that doesn’t mean good old-fashioned human hospitality is out of style, or ever will be. We need one just as much as we need the other. This industry ...Read more about this post
