The Blubber

In Toronto, Canada, restaurants have seen a double-digit decline in people dining in, suggesting pullback in discretionary spending, per OpenTable.

During the initial 10 days of September, the count of patrons dining at restaurants in the city decreased by 10% in comparison to the same timeframe last year. The latest data from the online reservation platform highlights an ongoing dip in the preference for in-person restaurant dining, with Toronto experiencing a consistent decline in seated diners, now persisting for over three consecutive months, even falling below 2022 levels.

These trends observed in Toronto resonate with patterns seen in various parts of Canada, coinciding with warnings from the association representing the nation's food service industry, which cautions that restaurants are precariously positioned.

Tracy Macgregor, Vice President of Ontario for Restaurants Canada, remarked, "Our members are still very much in recovery mode. The first half of 2023 started strong … but I can tell you that we’re definitely hearing that numbers are down."

In Montreal, the industry's recuperation appears to have stagnated, as year-over-year growth in in-person dining for this month has remained at zero percent thus far. Meanwhile, in Edmonton, restaurant attendance has been dwindling since May. Nationally, throughout the summer, the volume of in-person diners has fallen short of the figures recorded during the preceding summer.