Beckta, a prestigious restaurant in downtown Ottawa, recently buzzed, but it wasn’t because of the restaurant.The dining room on the second floor was turned into an assembly line where staff packed three-course dinners in paper boxes.
Dozens of these sets with lamb shank confit, shrimp lettuce and espresso tart wrappers, along with wine, stood ready for one of the restaurant’s drivers to deliver to the guests ’homes.
Beckta started offering them in May 2020.They are such big earners that the restaurant canceled the lunch service and shortened working hours.He now works five days a week and employs a record number of staff.
That even led to the restaurant functioning, usually an exhausting affair with long working hours, something with a balance between work and private life, said the owner Stephen Beckta.
“For me personally, my working day is probably eight to six days now,” he said.
“I used to spend a lot of nights in a restaurant, so I see my family a lot more than before.”
How the pandemic affects the future of the restaurant
Like other restaurants destroyed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Beckta had to adapt.Like other restaurants, he found that takeaway food and delivery brought in more money than indoor restaurants.He plans to stay that way.
“Full-service restaurants adopt a takeaway mentality,” said Jacob Mancini, vice president of restaurants and breweries at Canadian Western Bank, which lends money to restaurants.
“We see specialized menus especially to take away.We see food that is easier to make or that has higher margins.
It’s an effort to encourage customers who can’t come to the restaurant.”
As the pandemic procrastinates with new variants of the virus and new restrictions return Canadians to isolation, it is changing the way restaurants work and planning for the future, say interviews with caterers and industry observers.And it heralds major changes in the gastronomic experience, such as smaller restaurants, dedicated take-away counters and a shift to more elegant experiences to bring back indoor guests.
Restaurants return… but differently
There is good news for restaurants: after a brutal crash and many closures, nationwide sales last summer almost returned to pre-pandemic levels.Limited service restaurants, such as fast food bars and takeaways, have reached all-time records.
But operating costs have also risen.Devices and ingredients are more expensive due to global supply chain attenuation.Providing workers with protective equipment and carrying out vaccine passports also cost money.
Serious labor shortages, especially in low-wage jobs, are also forcing restaurants to raise wages and offer incentives to attract waiters and chefs.
In addition, Canadian restaurants have a combined debt of $ 15 billion due to the pandemic, according to Vince Sgabellone, a food industry analyst for NPD Group, a market research firm.
“It’s a big hole.Restaurants have already been a low-margin, single-digit business.It’s even thinner now,” he said.
Switching to meal sets was so cost-effective for Beckta that the restaurant was able to offer paid sick leave and benefits to employees after three months at work.
“Everyone is raising their game from wage increases, increased benefits and just better working conditions.It’s wonderful to see because it’s been too late in our industry,” Beckta said.
But not every restaurant is in the same position, and many save costs where they can.
In his polls among restaurant owners, Sbegallone found that many are in no hurry to reopen for indoor dining.
“They say their delivery is fine, it’s not worth hiring staff again.Why bother with a sedentary dinner at all?”
Takeaway redesign
With a stronger focus on delivery and takeaway food, restaurants no longer have to rely on large spaces with lots of tables to make money.As a result, more and more restaurants are looking for smaller bars with cheaper rentals, said Mancini, the bank’s vice president.
This was already happening before the pandemic, but this turbo complemented the trend.
“The need for huge boxes was already less important,” Mancini said.“I don’t think he’ll go back to what he was before.”
To make the takeaway food experience easier, seating restaurants are redesigning floor plans to create dedicated takeaway windows.According to Restaurants Canada, an industry advocacy group, some establishments are adding more driving lanes to alleviate bottlenecks, with dedicated lanes for delivery drivers.
A look into this future is evident in downtown Toronto at Box’d, a concept for the high-density office towers of the Middle East Paramount chain.Customers order via the mobile app, and chefs prepare food behind a wall of cubes.Customers are notified when the order is finished and take food from one of the cubes.Throughout the process, the customer does not talk to anyone.
Box’da owner Ahmad Daify calls it the first automated restaurant experience in Canada.
He says he has received many inquiries around the world for franchising.
“When there’s some predictability in the city center, we’d like to continue to spread the brand,” Daify said.
The spirit of the kitchen is yet to come
In an inconspicuous building on a gloomy street in Etobicoke is one of the hottest restaurants.There are no tables, no waiters, but it is full of delivery drivers who see the screen as a sign for arriving at the airport, waiting for their orders to ring.Three dozen mobile phones and tablets are constantly pinging, registering new orders from delivery applications.
Kitchen Hub is a spiritual kitchen, a service that prepares food for other restaurants exclusively for the delivery of orders.
“We are getting rid of a lot of initial headaches [for restaurants]”said CEO Adam Armeland.” We are dealing with infrastructure.We sign the lease, we finance, we build everything.All they do is bring their chefs, their food and their brand.“
The company has raised $ 10 million to expand this concept.
The company’s goal is to open 50 facilities across Canada within five years, Armeland said.
This model will only become more popular, according to food industry analyst Sgabellone, allowing restaurants to serve customers outside of normal business hours.
“It allows people who want what they want when they want it,” he said.“They are enabled by digital orders.”
Enticing guests with an experience factor
Does this push towards smaller restaurants that prefer delivery over indoor dining sounds like death bells for dinner out? Hard, analysts say.There will always be places for celebrations and romantic meetings.
But the dining experience is not just about food.Restaurants, especially with full service, will have to stand out by offering other sensory experiences, predicts banker Mancini.
“They will have to have an environment that is attractive, whether it’s a trivia dinner or a paved playground, or some kind of interesting activity inside.”
What is happening with restaurants is, in many ways, what has happened to cinemas in the last decade when streaming services have taken off and big screens have become affordable.Theaters had to offer an enhanced experience with roaring chairs, 3D and impressive sound.
“When you’re at home, there are a million ways to get good food,” Mancini said.“To encourage people to go out, you have to offer something they can’t get.”.
