Operations

Canada's restaurant count dropped by 5K in 2020

Photo: iStock.

July 28, 2021

Before the pandemic, Canada's restaurant count held steady at 66,000 units going back to 2016, but then 2020 happened, and the industry lost 5,000 units. That 8% decline was uncovered by restaurant data company, The NPD Group, and showed that independent restaurants lost 3,000 units, representing the bulk of the slide, a news release said.

The restaurant categories hardest hit by closures are those that relied heavily on customers' regular day-to-day routines, such as shopping, working or schooling, NPD found. Lunch provided one example. In the 12 months ending December 2020, lunch traffic experienced the worst decline — down 26% — compared to the same period a year before. As a result, the sandwich-restaurant category lost the most significant number of units last year, according to NPD.

The juice, snack and salad bars restaurant categories have a similar reliance on office workers, students and gym-goers. These categories lost a significant number of units, along with gourmet coffee and tea restaurants.

Visits — physical and virtual — to Canadian restaurants fell 13% for the year ending May 2021, compared to the same period last year. Most impacted by the mandated dine-in restrictions, full-service restaurants saw a 30% drop in traffic in the period.

QSRs, most of which have off-premises services like drive-thrus, saw visits drop by 8% in the year ending May 2021, compared to the previous year's period, NPD said.

"Although last year's restaurant unit loss was steep, new restaurants did continue to open despite the pandemic," Vince Sgabellone, NPD foodservice industry analyst, said in the release. "As the expected recovery plays out over the coming months, expect to see even more openings and maybe some returning names added to our ReCount census next year. The resourcefulness and tenacity of the restaurant industry never cease to impress."