Go Out for Dinner for the Economy’s Sake

If your favorite restaurant is one of those that survived all the lockdowns and closures imposed by COVID, you may want to consider giving them just a bit more patronage. That’s because a big chunk of those in this particular industry are struggling to regain their footing after re-opening.

A new report on business confidence shows that the hospitality sector is most fragile with between one-in-five and one-in-six restaurant owners saying they cannot survive a year at current revenue levels.

Now, this is a national report prepared by StatsCan so the numbers are likely skewed because many provinces extended their lockdowns compared to Saskatchewan. Nonetheless, we all know of restaurants in this province that didn’t re-open so we are not immune.

The owners say their greatest challenge is finding workers followed by rising input costs. And, this is one category where rising insurance premiums are being flagged as this sector has seen particularly large increases, reduced coverage, rising deductibles or simply no renewal offers at all as a vulnerable industry sector in need of some love.