Canada’s annual food inflation rate at 8.8% in June

Canada’s inflation rate, which has been making unwanted headlines for months, has hit another high-water mark. In June 2022, the annual rate of inflation was 8.1 per cent compared to June 2021, its largest yearly change since January 1983. Food inflation continues to outpace that figure. That figure is up 0.4 per cent from the […]

Complaints about short-staffed restaurants surging in 2022

New data from Yelp has shown that diners are returning to restaurants in droves, flocking to dining rooms in 2022 as the memory of heightened pandemic fears and restrictions fades. That has brought its own problems, though, as complaints about short-staffed restaurants have soared. The new state of the industry report found that customers have […]

Why cooking oil could cause surging menu prices

Restaurants are already grappling with numerous crises that are causing pressures on menu prices, from climate change to the lasting effects of COVID-19 to the devastating effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on food production. In recent months, cooking oil has been adding to the maelstrom. Global cooking oil prices have been rising since […]

US full-service menu prices see record inflation

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 […]

Heading into summer 2022, where does Canadian foodservice stand?

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 […]

How much more expensive are food prices becoming in Canada?

We were warned, and now we’re seeing it happen. Food prices in Canadian grocery stores are soaring, and the trend only looks set to continue. Late in 2021, the annual Food Price Report predicted that Canadian food prices would likely increase by between five and seven per cent in 2022, which was the highest increase […]

US menu prices take their highest leap in 40 years

One rather inevitable effect of the strains on the food industry has been rising costs and higher menu prices, and the consequences have been spectacular. Amid a landscape of stretched supply chains, climate change, a labour crunch, and other factors, restaurants have been raising their menu prices to offset the resulting unprecedented spike in food […]