Dyan Solomon, co-founder and owner of Olive et Gourmando, poses inside the restaurant in Old Montreal on Oct. 19, 2023.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
As Montreal restaurants adapt to rising costs and impending deadlines to repay loans issued during the pandemic, one well-known chef says she worries about the future of the city’s famed dining scene.
Dyan Solomon, who owns three restaurants in the city, said that in the past, Montreal’s famously low rents meant chefs could open their own places, and restaurants were able to thrive in part because customers had the disposable income to eat out.
But as rents rise, along with the price of food and labour, she worries the independent restaurants that have become the hallmark of Montreal’s dining scene won’t survive, leaving mostly chains and fast-food eateries, with only the most elite fine dining establishments on the higher end.
“That’s really sad and depressing, but it looks a little bit like … that is what will happen,” she said. “I don’t see how it can’t. You’re not going to pay $40 for a sandwich.”
Solomon, who opened her first restaurant, Olive et Gourmando, in Old Montreal 25 years ago, said she’s never seen anything like the price increases of the past few years, which have pushed the cost of “literally everything” up between 20 per cent and 30 per cent. “Restaurants are struggling, businesses are struggling, but we know our customers are struggling too, so it is a really difficult thing to navigate.”
Solomon, who also owns Foxy, west of downtown, and Un Po Di Piu in Old Montreal, has built a reputation for working with local suppliers. She is committed to maintaining the quality of her food, but she said others might be tempted to use lower-quality ingredients to keep their prices stable.
Dominique Tremblay, a spokeswoman for the Quebec restaurateurs association, said many of her members have been left without the money to pay back federal government loans issued during the COVID-19 pandemic. People are going out less and wanting to spend less when they do go out, she said, and rainy summer weather only exacerbated the problem.
Those loans have to be repaid by Jan. 18 in order for businesses to have some of the loan forgiven, a deadline recently pushed back from Dec. 31.
“We’ve lost 4,000 restaurants since the beginning of the pandemic and there may be others that will close,” she said, adding that her organization wants the deadline to be extended until the end of 2024.
Despite the economic headwinds, new restaurants are still opening in Montreal. Andrew Whibley and Pablo Rojas, who recently opened Bar Dominion in downtown Montreal, say their new establishment was shaped by the economic climate.
Whibley said that because they opened in a space that had been occupied by a restaurant that closed during the pandemic, they were able to save more than $1 million on renovations. The pair said they’re also attempting to appeal to a broad market, with lower prices and regular specials to keep the place full.
“It’s only doable because we have the chance of being downtown, where we know we’ll be able to hit the volume that we need to still make ends meet,” Rojas said. “But if you were to do that on a smaller scale, I’m not sure it would be possible.”
Rojas, who also co-owns Provisions, a steak house and wine bar, as well as a neighbouring butcher shop of the same name that serves sandwiches, said that adapting to higher costs may mean using cheaper cuts of meat, serving smaller portion sizes and finding ways to save money on takeout packaging.
Rojas said he’d like to see the federal government forgive the loans and look at them as a one-time cost necessary to keep businesses afloat and protect jobs.
“At the end, it’s the staff that’s going to lose. It’s people who were expecting a raise, who deserve a raise, that will not get it because there’s no more money,” Rojas said.
Montreal food writer J.P. Karwacki said he’s noticed rising restaurant prices, as well as restaurants adapting by cutting back their opening hours, though he hasn’t noticed a decline in the quality of the dishes.
Fixed-price multi-course meals and comfort foods could become more common on Montreal menus, he said, as will shorter menus, as restaurateurs look to maintain tighter control over inventory.
But he thinks dining out is too deeply ingrained in Montreal’s culture for people to abandon restaurants altogether.
“We love to go to restaurants, we love to go to bars, we like to gather. And I would be very surprised if that was one thing that we were willing to sacrifice. The question is about how it’s going to change,” he said.
Solomon is adjusting, looking to smaller menus that will require fewer kitchen staff and drawing on Asian influences to reduce the use of increasingly expensive ingredients that had been staples on her menu, such as cheese.
But even though dining rooms look like they’re back to normal after the dark days of the pandemic, few restaurateurs have been able to recover financially from the closures, she said. “I think the assumption is it’s all good now, and that’s really not true, it would take a very long time to come back from this kind of financial disaster for restaurants.”
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
