Feeding our Community!

 COVID and your local Restaurant

According to the study done by Restaurants Canada – Alberta’s Foodservice COVID-19 Update Feb 2021 – prior to COVID there were over $12B in sales over 11257 establishments. 

SHOP LOCAL ALERT:  Every dollar that was spent at a restaurant generated $1.85 of spending in the rest of the economy!  So for every dollar spent, the restaurant would spend $1.85.  Wouldn’t you love that rate of return on your investment?  Not all of it will be spent locally, but the Didsbury Restaurants run a Shop Local First policy, ensuring that as much as possible is spent locally.

Does this mean our restaurants are making money?  Not as much as you expect.  For every $10 spent at a restaurant:  $3.08 is for wages & benefits;  $3.29 food & beverage costs: $3.20 operating costs; leaving a grand total of $0.43 pretax profit.   Reminder these are pre-COVID numbers!

Alberta restaurants employed 6.4% of the provinces workforce, ranked #3 in the private sector employers.

Then COVID arrived!

Having some provincial wide statistics, I asked our local Restaurant Chamber Members if they would share if these #’s reflected their situation. 

1 – 65.6% OF FOODSERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS INDICATED THEY WERE OPERATING AT A LOSS.

While our local restaurants are not running at a loss, at this time, the margins are very tight.  Factors include :

costs of products – we have all experienced the higher food prices in the stores

costs of packaging – shortages of supplies, due to increased demand

payroll – many of our local restaurants have tried to keep staff on as long as possible but unfortunately this is one area that has been cut to help keep afloat.  Many owners have also opted to not pay themselves or pay minimally.

operating costs – utilities, rent, insurance, etc still need to be paid and have not gone down.  In fact, at least one of our restaurants is facing up to 25% increase in rent alone!

            1B – WHY DO YOU KEEP OPERATING?

Community was the resounding answer here!  Didsbury is home and they are committed to being a part of the community.   Small business is an important part of the culture of Didsbury.

2 – 36% OF FOODSERVICE COMPANIES INDICATED IT WOULD TAKE 12-18 MONTHS TO RECOVER, WHILE 28% INDICATED IT WOULD TAKE 18+ MONTHS TO RECOVER.

The question was, facing these hard numbers what have they done to keep their names out there? 

The answer is the Lifeline of COVID survival– Social Media, Internet   Not only daily use of social platforms to indicate hours, specials etc but making sure FB, Website, etc information is current.

Many use pictures of their foods to entice.   Praire Whistle makes sure you see what they are making today as they post enticing pictures each day!

Word of Mouth and/or referrals has become more important than ever!  So keep talking up the great service and food Didsbury offers!  Ask Vintage Coffee of the power of word of mouth!

3- In Oct 2019 57% of food was served through Drive Thru/Pick up, this changed to 80% in Oct 2020.  Do these #’s reflect your business.

After taking a pause, to evaluate how to Pivot with the changes in March 2019,  most food companies made the change to 100% curbside/takeout.  One of our local Food Trucks, Grillz, added to their menu and increased the hours they were available.  Again using Social Media to get word out of locations and times.

Our restaurants are striving to keep us fed. Lets show our support by being the Community that keeps our local food companies alive! 

Great food, great chefs, great coffees, expanding menus…..we have it all!

Support Local – Buy Local

Didsbury  - welcome Home  and a great place to grow!

Thank you to the members who replied, I am sure their answers reflect every other food companies in town!

Prairie Whistle; Vintage Coffee Bar; Grillz