Plate, Policy, and Progress: Inside Canada’s Restaurant Landscape with Kelly Higginson

Mary Anne Ivison  00:01

And this is forward motion discussions about the important topic shaping Ontario's tourism industry. Here's your host, Andrew sigwart,

 

Andrew Siegwart  00:10

today we're pulling up a chair with Kelly Higginson, President and CEO of restaurants Canada, to talk about the state of Canada's restaurant industry and why it matters to tourism and our economy. We'll dive into an industry pulse check the impact of tariffs and trade rules and the opportunities in domestic food sourcing and interprovincial trade. We'll also explore workforce challenges from immigration to culinary training programs, plus the cost pressures reshaping menus and consumer choices. And we'll hear about the recent food is food campaign, and what it means for restaurants and Canadians alike, it's a candid conversation about resilience, growth and the future of food in Canada's visitor economy. Let's get started. Well, thank you, Kelly for joining us for the forward motion podcast. We're thrilled to have you. Thanks for having me. You have had a remarkable career leading one of Canada's most influential hospitality organizations, what drew you to this sector, and what continues to inspire you about working on behalf of restaurants across the country?

 

Kelly Higginson  01:08

Great question. And thank you. I have been fortunate enough to have a really exciting career. And, you know, I think, like a lot of people, I started out in the industry in high school, and it was in weekend, money, extra money to buy the maybe shoes and clothes and things that you want as a teenager, and your parents say no. So that was a lot of fun, and then it certainly was part of paying my way through university, and I really found I was drawn to the sector. I loved working with people, but I loved the business aspect of it, and they're so multifaceted, like they're just, there's never a day that's the same. And when I finished university, it wasn't a huge hiring time. And, you know, the labor market was a bit challenging. And I'm not going to say what year it was that I graduated university, because that would age me too far too much, but I was fortunate enough to be tapped as kind of a leadership development program with the keg. And I always like to acknowledge the keg. I grew up in the keg and and their program, their development program, is spectacular. So I went into management and was given a lot of exciting initiatives to dig into. We were at a really big growth stage with the keg new ownership. So, you know, with strategic planning, and there was development of concepts and new markets and openings and leading new openings. So lots of fun. And I'm one of those people who left the industry two or three times thinking that at some point you're supposed to leave hospitality and realized that no hospitality is a fantastic career, and just kept coming back to it. I was very fortunate to have that time. Also in the last position that I had, was working for actually the same owner as the keg, but he wanted to expand out and do some really exciting independent concepts that we were able to open across Canada, and did that for a number of years, and ran that company for him, and with him, I should say, and he really is a visionary. And then we went into the pandemic. I was around the time that I was thinking, you know, might be a good time. I hit 50. And thought were, I was almost 50 at the time, and thought, you know, maybe I should be looking at some other options. And I was sitting on the board of restaurants Canada, and it became so evident to me how important having a strong advocacy voice for our sector is when the pandemic hit. I mean, is the fourth largest private employer in the country. And boy, was that a challenging time for all of us, so I was again in a position to get more involved with some of the committees and having conversations with government, working with restaurants Canada. And then an opportunity arose to join the team, and it kind of just unfolded from there. But it really is a true honor to be able to be in this position today

 

Andrew Siegwart  04:03

well. And I always think it's very helpful when our advocates have experience in the industry, because, you know, it at a very different level. And so you can really bridge those skill sets together. And I think it drives stronger lobbying and strong stronger advocacy. I have to tell you, this is, I don't know if it's a strange coincidence or what, but my very first job was at a keg restaurant in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Oh, that place was dynamic. Institution still is. It's an institution whenever we go home, you have to go there. But I started as a kitchen technician, which was a dishwasher and and then I was quickly promoted to be a bus person and then work in the restaurant. And I loved it. It was It wasn't just going to work. It was a scene. It was everyone was there. It was an environment, it was a vibe. And you learned so much. So I just think, you know, we've got a shared little bit of shared history. I didn't make it quite

 

Kelly Higginson  04:57

as far as you know, but you know, it really. Is it really is such a dynamic environment at the keg, and I think they, they do such a great job. And so many of our you know, so many of our members and and operators in this sector really do such a great job of tapping talent, seeing talent developing it, looking at those career paths for those future leaders. It's always exciting to see.

 

Andrew Siegwart  05:20

Yeah, back, back to my comment about advocacy professionals having industry experience. Have you found that helpful to you when you're meeting with ministers, with, you know, elected officials? Absolutely.

 

Kelly Higginson  05:32

I mean, I think there's a little bit of a passion from it as well that thankfully, I have a really talented group of government relations specialists. You're able to guide and and sometimes temper my my passion for it, but I, I think even for the team, it's helpful, because I can explain why. You know, top line growth, for example, this summer we saw in a lot of markets because of the growth in tourism, but we're still seeing this really challenging bottom line impact from all the input costs, and that, of course, because they haven't run these businesses, they aren't really as familiar with why is the top line doing so much better, and we're seeing that much growth, but this bottom line and where the where are the pain points? So I think, from that perspective, and then certainly being able to draw on experience. And, you know, I talk a lot about right now with our workforce and immigration conversations on one of many restaurants in this country that I was fortunate enough to lead at a time. And this is like so many others. We had 110 staff. And I always called the United Nations, you know, we had so many different people from different countries, and they were all, you know, investing in Canada, and we were investing in them, and they were building lives here, and and that is such a another aspect of the sector that's so important to the country,

 

Andrew Siegwart  06:53

for sure. Yeah, it is, in so many ways, food and food service is our cultural identity. It's reflected, it reflects our cultural identity. Okay, let's, let's, let's start with a pulse check. You started us there talking a bit about the bottom line. What are you seeing in terms of Canada's restaurant sector, what's the, what's the mood of operators, and what are their main challenges, and maybe, where are they feeling more optimistic right now?

 

Kelly Higginson  07:15

Well, I think, you know to I don't like downplay it, but they're getting smoked and and there's a lot of challenges and frustrations in just getting ahead, you know. And I think we've seen since the pandemic, it's, it's been one thing after another. They carried out of the pandemic such an incredible amount of debt, really, having to challenges and rehiring people and investing in training and development, again, because there was so such a long closure in areas and and then again, managing that debt as they carried forward. And then all the input costs that have continually gone up, and inflationary pressures that Canadians are struggling with on an everyday basis are the same that we are. You know, food's costing more. All of our operational supplies are costing more. Insurance has gone up astronomically across the board. And again, I like to highlight, you know, things like insurance, it's just such an unsexy spend because no one see it, touch it, feel it. There's nothing to experience there. But it's so much of you know, what you're having to put out. So there's, there's a real challenge from that perspective. And again, on, on the other side of it. So we've got all those input challenges going going up in inflation, and then the other side, we've got Canadians themselves. Our consumers have been really struggling with affordability. So they don't have the money in their pocket to treat themselves or to spend on a day to day basis the same way that they were, which is another area of concern. Because, you know, we've got hard working Canadians who 75% of them from our last polling, are saying that they're going to have to continue to pull back in their restaurants. It's the first thing that they have to cut. So that creates that, you know, real pressure. We're getting it from both sides, and it also means that Canadians themselves aren't happy. You know, you're hard working. And look, I'm not talking about the fancy dinner out with, you know, big meals and three hour meals and and and such. I'm talking about just those day to day niceties like a busy family meal at the end of a busy week, getting everyone together and having some takeout parents being able to grab some quick meals on the way to soccer and maybe Girl Guides, that that type of stuff and and that really does enhance our quality of life, but at the same time, we're a really significant economic driver, and so it's really impacting communities and the economy, the job market, youth employment, there's a lot of areas.

 

Andrew Siegwart  09:40

There's been lots of conversation of late about the importance for our overall well being and mental health of third places. So we have our home, we have our work, but we need these third places to convene and and to me, restaurants are that they are our third places.

 

Kelly Higginson  09:55

Yeah, it's interesting. You say that I have cafe across the street. From our office and just forcing myself, Yes, we have a kettle and yes, I could make my green tea in the in the kitchen and go back to my office, but just forcing me myself to go across the street, I get out of the office so I'm up moving around. I connect with the barista and the two people at the cafe, and we all know each other now. So there's that, as you said, emotional connection. And I think we saw so much of that drop for people during the pandemic, and there was that emphasis on, it's really important those touch points throughout the day, gets me outside, you know, clears my head for a minute, and we can go back and have, you know, continue to work. But they are really important. Touch points throughout our day.

 

Andrew Siegwart  10:37

They are I've been trying to continually practice my French. And there's a Maples cafe in my neighborhood, and five people at the cafe all speak French. So so we have a deal where I go and I order my coffee, and we parley on francais together, and then I go on with my days. So okay,

 

Kelly Higginson  10:54

I have to ask you which maples, because that's my teapot.

 

Andrew Siegwart  10:57

Maples, maples on Dundas, West, Queen Street West. That's amazing, yeah? And they're so game, right? They're just, they're cheering me along. And this is what a third place does, right? It's about the connection, yeah, on the, you know, pulling that thread a little bit, you know, I know one of the bigger challenges on the costs came from tariffs, and then counter tariffs, and then, you know, supply chain challenges, you know, how has this been playing out for restaurant tours, and what has the restaurant industry learned about its purchasing patterns?

 

Kelly Higginson  11:30

Oh, there wasn't enough focus on the impact in our sector. And I don't want to take away from all of the impacts that it's had on on auto and steel. I mean, you know, devastating. And so many of those are our consumers, obviously so, so important, and especially in those concentrated areas, but the tariffs and the retaliatory tariffs were costing our sector millions a month. And you know, that was because we set up our supply chains in a way that we were told to. We followed the rules, we did what we were supposed to, and then we were getting penalized for it. But there was no alternative. And I say this, as you know, with over 80% of the products that our sector is using coming from Canada, and I'm talking about eggs and chicken and dairy and such a big part of what our sector utilizes, really so much produce coming from our areas, but there's a lot of things that people don't realize go back and forth across the border and are getting double hit and those costs. So one of the things that we really gravitated towards was trying to make our own automobile. And you know, there was a lot of attention on that automobile and that visual of it going back and forth across. So we were able to create a burger with Agriculture Canada. And, you know, we've got wheat coming from Saskatchewan that is sent down in its whole form to California and being processed into a burger bun. It comes back up to Canada, and then it gets packaged and it gets distributed around. So now we've seen two or three crosses over the border, so that's getting dinged each time. We've got the ground beef, which is a calf that is born in Alberta. It moves down to Iowa to be raised. It gets back up to Canada to be slaughtered and processed and distributed. So again, that burger all of a sudden goes from something that, you know, is is a manageable cost, or that we've, at least, you know, incorporated into our costs, that is something all of a sudden has 25 50% added on to it, and different pieces, and this happened through the entire chain. The other piece of it was really all of the operational supplies. So we send a lot of raw steel, raw items down at the states, and they get made into kitchen sinks, into countertops, into all of these pieces for restaurants. So, you know, we knew a number of large companies who were doing you know, they were in growth mode when all of this came and they had to pull way back on that, because the cost of the builds all of a sudden didn't make sense anymore. Whether it was a franchise operator or for them, we had a lot of people who were thinking about renovations and additions and all of these things, and they had to pull back. So there was, there's, there was a really, really challenging time. But as you were saying about supply chain. I do think, I mean, I was so impressed with how so many operators, big, huge, huge and small, and everyone in between, and how they were, I mean, I hate this word from our day, but how they were pivoting, and they were re looking at their menu items and, you know, and all of a sudden managing what wasn't a pro Canadian, it was a really anti American. So, you like, you couldn't have any of that on your back bar. You couldn't have you to answer questions about your menu that your staff read. No. I mean, had never been asked before. You know, where is that pepper from? I want to don't you tell me you're using salt. State, it got so emotional. So it was, um, for financial reasons and even operationally, it got to be a very, very challenging time. We were grateful that we're able to work so closely with the government to try and work on some of the supply chain issues. We actually work also worked very closely to make sure that the retaliatory tariffs came off, you know, when they did so a lot of advocacy work during that time, but

 

Andrew Siegwart  15:25

and good work on your part to do that and to highlight that, because I know we were talking a lot about cars that, you know, how many plants across the border, but I don't know that enough attention went on the food. And I guess, I guess the raw, the raw materials were getting tariffed, going in. Then what was being mated, what was being mated, what was being created, was being tariffed back. So some of that's been that, some of that's been remediated, which is good.

 

Kelly Higginson  15:50

Some of it's been dealt with. Some of it, you know, is still a challenge. And I think in general, we're just seeing higher prices across the board, because everything is more expensive you've

 

Andrew Siegwart  16:00

been doing. We know we're preparing for Kuzma that's coming up and and the consultations there are you at a point now where you could share some of what you're thinking about. It needs to, needs to layer into the those negotiations to better support restauranteurs going forward.

 

Kelly Higginson  16:15

Sure, and we did do it, a Kuzma submission for the first time ever, restaurants Canada has is participating in that. And I think what we want to be clear about is what is reasonably accessible for our sector. I mean, I am so excited about some of these vertical lettuce farms and all of these great things that we're seeing, but it's not a it honestly, at we're not at the point in the scale to be able to support the demand of the need so. So I think, you know, one of the things we are talking a lot about is making sure that products that are not actually available, turmeric, cinnamon, I didn't think I'd ever talk about cinnamon and turmeric as much as I have in the last year, but these are things that we don't have a choice, right? So let's look at these items first and foremost, and then also making sure that Canadians have open access to products at a reasonable price, and that we have that consistency. And that's both for it's the consistency and the accessibility to products that is really important for our operators as well. So, you know, going going through all that process is going to be, you know, time consuming for for those people in that space. We are very fortunate to work with some really smart people in trade, for sure, but we are looking to also present at committee on the importance of the sector, on the need for awareness of the sector and our access and awareness just from our the need for supply chain.

 

Andrew Siegwart  17:47

Yeah, and I would imagine it's, you know, the US is one dynamic and making sure that Kuzma unfolds as we need it to. But I would imagine a lot of it is looking at other markets and making sure that importers and those partners in your supply chain have access to as many markets as possible and as much open trade there, right? Is there a lot of, is there a lot of those stakeholders looking at other other markets to open up? For

 

Kelly Higginson  18:12

sure. I mean, there's our operators are always looking for in our suppliers primarily are looking at, you know, backfilling from other markets. Definitely. The reality is, there isn't a market, from a shipping perspective, that is as accessible as this. So once you start adding on costs to and, I mean, look, I'm a lover of European wines and food and products and all of those things, but when you start to look at adding on shipping costs and the accessibility of all of that, it does add to it. So we have to be mindful of that, you know, for the consumer, for what at the end of the day, anything that comes down and that we are dinged with, we have to, we just don't have the wiggle room in our in our profitability, to be able to absorb it, we have to pass it on to the consumer, yeah, and that's where it really starts to impact the economy. And

 

Andrew Siegwart  19:05

I would imagine near home is also fresher. It's also less waste. It's less less carbon in terms of transportation. So it's all those things you're balancing. It's all those things, yeah, can you maybe talk a little bit more about the local suppliers and the scale. What do you think is needed in Canada's or Ontario's, you know, homegrown production to bring to bring scale? Are there? Are there a few things that might help

 

Kelly Higginson  19:32

the recognition that Canadian agriculture is so critical, I mean, first and foremost, and you know, I'm the first one to start saying, you know, let's keep the investment going. But I think a lot of people have highlighted this takes time. This is going to take, you know, multiple years, to be able to develop what we need to develop. And from a from a supply perspective, you know, we look at a number of and I've talked about tomatoes. Us a lot in the last six months as well, and understandably, you know, the people that we were speaking to at Global Affairs kept saying, but why can't you use the Leamington tomatoes? We do use the Leaming tomatoes, but mostly they are used for sauces because they have a different consistency. They are watery. So all of these conversations, and then it's, well, you we need to just adjust our expectation of a tomato. Well, we can't necessarily do that, because at the end of the day, if it's watery, then it's going to become a soggy sandwich, and the consumer, again, is going to be paying the price. So there's all of these things that we really began breaking down into such specifics. I think, you know, definitely investment into the research and and development perspective of these vertical farms. I mean, it is incredible what they're able to do and grow and the controls that they have over the environment for the product. But again, it is going to take time, and it does cost, it does cost money, but we it's

 

Andrew Siegwart  21:03

big, big technology, right? Big technology systems for that

 

Kelly Higginson  21:07

so, and then touching on the technology part of it, you know, such a great opportunity. We have incredible companies in this country, so we need to be able to provide them an environment where the investment within Canada, so what is that economic, investment economy look like? We need to have that assessed and, and that comes down to making sure, from a tax perspective, a regulatory perspective, that all of these clear the pathway and let the innovators do what they do.

 

Andrew Siegwart  21:39

Yeah, for sure, for sure, and and you can see the potential for investors, whether it's public or private, to seize these opportunities and help make them come online quicker and faster, which is really exciting for all of us. We just have to get to get raise, raise the profile and bring it forward. You

 

Andrew Siegwart  22:03

i One of the things that I've been really, first thankful for, and second, really impressed by, is how you are so succinctly talking about the challenges as it relates to workforce. And you know, really the industry has had to react to so much with the changes in immigration, with the reductions of international students, temporary foreign workers, all those sorts of things. And I'm wondering if you could just share with us, sort of what's the status in across the restaurant community in Canada, and where do you think we need to be going in the future to fix our workforce challenges?

 

Kelly Higginson  22:41

Yeah, thanks. That's such a big conversation for us right now, and I think primarily because there's such a mis misconception around it, or the misperception of the sector and so many levels. So you know, when we look at the temporary foreign workers, they are only 3% of our workforce, which I think a lot of people might be surprised about, because it's been painted to be a much bigger part of our workforce. There are 3% but they are such a critical 3% they are often those full time anchors and in rural and remote communities that allow us to be able to employ a lot of the youth of the area, employ people that need that more flexible schedule, they're able to support the operators in having longer hours and the appropriate business model that they need to be able to service the community service, you know, truck drivers, tourism, all of these things. We're also talking about communities in this in the country where they have populations of two to 4000 people, but in the high season, they're jumping up to 20 to 40,000 people visiting. There just isn't, there isn't anyone to tap to service these, these businesses, so and the community. So I think there's so this is such a big conversation, and it's the misperception of this that is really, really we're working hard on. We're calling it kind of that myth busting right now, the immigration cuts are certainly going to make an impact for our sector, and they're also going to dramatically impact, from a tourism perspective, what we're able to service. So when I look at our goals as a country to build our Canadian economy, and tourism is very much an export economy. So, and I think we were talking about this at the at the in the panel the other day at the tourism Congress, you know, we aren't going to be able to service the demand if these rural and remote and tourism communities don't have access to that sustainable level of workforce. So, you know. But the other conversation that we have a lot is around technology. To your point, how we can be supporting our operators, how the government can be supporting again, in that investment like, let's look at those, those tax credits for the capital investment in technology, automation and equipment.

 

Andrew Siegwart  24:58

Yeah, well, threatening, if you. Could share your perspective on the closures and the sort of pauses on some of the culinary schools. I know some of the more the more prominent ones are still operating and doing well, but we lost a lot of them in smaller markets. And, you know, I had a phone call from a restaurant tour in Kenora who was really stressed because Confederation College in Thunder Bay was their only place where they could get, you know, training for their kitchen staff, right? And this is, these are, like, highly specialized jobs. These are highly skilled people. Say

 

Kelly Higginson  25:33

that again, for the people in the back of the room, because that's the, that's my other pickle, that I

 

Andrew Siegwart  25:38

know, highly specialized skills. I mean, think how for everyone listening. Think of what you make at home, how complex it is to make a meal for your family now do that for a conference of 1000 people, and manage the team and the sourcing and the procurement and the all of it like it's very complex. And these skills teach these chefs and these kitchen teams how to do that. Well, what are operators telling you about that gap? Are they aware of the gap right now? Are they feeling it yet?

 

Kelly Higginson  26:04

Oh, there's a lot of fear. And I think there's a lot of fear for a variety of reasons. One is, this is a real I mean, I've had a remarkable, very dynamic, exciting career in hospitality, and we want to be able to encourage the next generation to be able to go into hospitality and culinary and all of these wonderful areas. And if we don't have that post secondary opportunity for these students, it really drives down the attraction and the end the understanding that this can be a career choice. We've also got, you know, students who may not fall into the cookie cutter mold, I guess, or mainstream, and maybe I was one of them as well, that needed a different environment, from that day to day, working environment, whatever it is, you know, we can provide such an interesting career for people. We can provide a career that can take you traveling. Can you know, you can, you can live in all sorts of different areas. So our operators are definitely feeling frightened that we aren't going to have that pipeline of the future generation of our workforce, which is really concerning. And then to your point for those junior levels to be able to backfill out of the colleges, you know, and be able to provide that on site work experience, of which this is a sector that that needs that right? This isn't learning from a book at a desk, so you can learn in the classroom, and then you can take that and get your part time job and learn on a day to day basis. So there's so many things there i i do have a few mixed feelings about this situation that, you know, maybe I should keep more to myself, but, oh, share them. You know, first, I've got the challenge around how we are continually labeled unskilled. And again, it goes back to our work at restaurants Canada, around the perception of this industry. One, its economic impact. Two, we are a skilled workforce, and we there was a, there was a workforce and labor roundtable consultation in Ottawa a couple of weeks ago. And so we contacted the minister Labour's office, and why weren't we on the list? And oh, it's for high skilled, quote, unquote, high skilled future workforce. So our Vice President of federal affairs had the unfortunate job of communicating that that was the response. Back to Me, wow. And I thought, maybe we need to line up all of cabinet and have them make a paella for 500 people like that. Go, yeah, you tell me how unskilled that is. Yeah, that's a good idea. That one took, yeah, that one took a bit for me to calm down from. So you know that lack of recognition of whether we're skilled or unskilled, and then when I look at the value of youth coming and working in these restaurants, and what our operators are doing and investing in these youth. They're teaching them how to be an adult and how to have a social interactions, and how to have and to build that confidence, and how to be able to come to work with two socks that are the same color and be on time. I mean, you know, it is a real responsibility. I can tell you,

 

Andrew Siegwart  29:27

Oh my gosh, you're so you know, you're making me laugh, because I worked at a hotel in the banquet and catering team years ago. I was one of those young students, and we were, we always had to wear black socks right when you're wearing your serving uniform, but I was the one server who always wore white socks, so it was fashion faux pas, and also I was not following work.

 

Kelly Higginson  29:47

Oh, if you really were that person for me, I was, but

 

Andrew Siegwart  29:50

there was a woman, one of my earliest hospitality mentors. Her name was Mrs. Oh, she worked at the red oak Inn in Thunder Bay, and for a Christmas gift exchange, she gave me a beer. Stein, and when I opened it, there was a pair of black socks. And I've, I've never forgot it, and I will never wear white socks again because of her. Anyways, long, long digression, but you're so right, like you were right.

 

Kelly Higginson  30:10

No, it's, it's amazing. And I have so many friends that, you know, their teenage kids goes go and work into a restaurant. They come out of the summer of working there, and their parents go, Oh my God. I have a new I have a confident, you know, able to look people in the eye saying, Hello, all of those really important things so So from those perspectives, it's incredibly frustrating to see these cuts, because it has such, such a dramatic impact on not just our immediate needs, but our future needs, but also the needs of the community. On the flip side, I do think that there were too many programs across the country. I do think that we went from what I think was maybe five to six, you know, a number of years ago, up to 2227 and sorry, in the province of Ontario in particular. And so we need to find that that happen medium of what is the right amount of programs that we can keep sustainable, keep that, you know, pipeline going, have them being well funded operations. But it is concerning that some of them, you know, even George Brown, and I've toured that that property so many times, and they have such an incredible culinary school, and they're looking at cutting back a number of their programs so that, you know, is really concerning for sure.

 

Andrew Siegwart  31:31

Yeah, I mean, the message we've been sharing with policymakers is we know the right sizing needed to take place, and we understand some of the changes on international students. But what's happened is the pendulum has swung so far that now domestic students can't get the culinary training in markets where they should. So we do need a course correct. So I think that's that's one of our big projects for 2026

 

Kelly Higginson  31:55

so many, yeah, in so many areas, we need a course correct. And I hear this all across the country from friends who are professors and universities and everywhere, very

 

Andrew Siegwart  32:02

concerned. Yeah, well, with this is a, this is a, an area where we, you can count on

 

Kelly Higginson  32:06

our partnership for sure, well, and you can count on ours Absolutely you

 

Andrew Siegwart  32:11

restaurants Canada launched something that I thought was really, really innovative, a because of the policy piece and B, just because of how you did it. The visuals were great. The messaging was great. So this was your food is food campaign, wondering if you could share what the driving force was around that campaign and what it's all about. Sure.

 

Kelly Higginson  32:29

Well, we were, we were fortunate enough to be able to experience the GST holiday as you know, I say that as a Canadian, you know, last, last December, January, February. It was when we got the call, and we've been working pretty hard in Ottawa to bring awareness to the fact that there had been a real withdraw in spending, that Canadians were really feeling the pinch, but the impact it was having on the sector, employment in our sector, all of these pieces that there needed to be some sort of stimulation. So obviously, thrilled to get the call when we did in late November that this is going to be coming down the pipe, and was participating in a number of the press conferences and the announcements, and again, very excited, but we had no idea how impactful it would be. And you know, when I think back to, you know, I'll end up jumping around a little bit. When the GST was first introduced in 1991 restaurants Canada undertook a study that was done by, I believe it was Deloitte at the time, but there was a huge study of the impact of the GST on the food service sector, because it immediately put us on an unequal playing field with the grocery stores, of course. So we saw an immediate 12% drop in spending of that dollar from Canadians, yeah. And we never have, we have never fully recovered. It kind of stayed at that. We were 7% under that spend for, you know, for years. It just continued on. So we never fully recovered that. And when we saw the GST holiday come in, it was a bit of a slow start. And you know, the uptick the year on year now being the last two weeks of December were also a bit of a challenging time. A lot of closed days you're closed, and all these types of things happening January, it just took off. And we did a comparison of year on year sales. The increase in sales was almost 10% year over year in January and February. And the real impact was we created 24,000 jobs in January and February. So this is a period where we're usually shedding hours, right, laying people off. You know, people are being, you know, just laid off until maybe March, April for patio season, so that when that news came in, that was when we knew we were on to something. We couldn't not look at this as an opportunity for Canadians, because they gravitated towards it. They felt it. And I think that is something that was really missing from this last. Budget. So we obviously didn't get it this budget around, but we're still going to we're going to keep fighting. Canadians are tapped. We've been we've been navigating this affordability crisis for number of years now. It's chronic situation, and there's nothing that make the they feel on a day to day basis. And I always like to remind policymakers that 23 million times a day Canadians visit a restaurant to make some sort of purchase. So it's 23 million times a day. They have the opportunity to remind Canadians that they care about the things that are impacting them. But then, when I look at it from a job and employment perspective, so with our modeling, our chief economist was able to model out that by removing GST from food and based on the economic modeling from the GST holiday, we would create almost 65,000 new food service jobs. And something key to that is 40% of our workforce are youth to people under 25 so so so check we've got something that we're investing in, stimulating the economy to support youth employment. We're also looking at over 15,000 additional spin off jobs and all the related industries that you and I were talking about, whether it be agriculture and supply chains, we've got almost 29,000 new restaurants, and we're 5.4 billion in tax savings to consumers, 5.4 billion in tax savings to consumers. So a lot of areas that it would check some boxes for sure, especially given the current state of the economy.

 

Andrew Siegwart  36:35

And I would imagine that over time, with all of those spin off benefits and additional businesses. You're you'll increase the number of transactions, which means that money will come back. So it's a smart model.

 

Kelly Higginson  36:48

It always comes back to the government. Yeah. I mean, we, we're also looking at 1.5 billion in additional tax revenue and EI savings for the government. So, you know, just in that first year, if we were to see it happen, so

 

Andrew Siegwart  37:00

amazing. There you go. That's a good case. And I just love how I love how you designed that campaign to compare groceries or food that would be purchased supplies versus the created meal. And how was the reaction to that campaign? Did your members enjoy it?

 

Kelly Higginson  37:15

Yeah, everyone was pretty excited about it. We were able to get almost 10,000 signatures on our on our petition, but looking to get some more next time that we run it, you know, we really gotta send that, that strong message. And when I look at the fact that we employ 1.2 million people in our sector, where there's an opportunity to really try and grab that sector and mobilize it, right? So we there's some work to do there, for sure, but absolutely, the members in the in the industry, were certainly excited that the prospect.

 

Andrew Siegwart  37:45

I love it, and I just love the creative ideas and the economic multiplication that you're thinking about there. It's still spot on. I'm wondering if you could maybe, you know, give us a sense, you know, over the next five years or so, what are, what are the trend lines that you're looking at and the that your members are looking at that will drive restaurants. What's on the horizon? Yeah,

 

Kelly Higginson  38:07

we talked a little bit about it, and it's something that we'll be certainly talking a little bit more about. It. Are the RC show coming up March 7 at the International seven center. I have to do a little plug for that, please. But certainly again, looking at the technology piece of operating a restaurant and the support in how it can really help to elevate the work experience and for the employees, it can really help to support the the operational costs for the for the operators and and then obviously, the the labor needs. So when we look at things like automated ovens and, you know, equipment for the kitchen, when we look at things like reservation programs, when we look at AI programs for supporting in your accounting and inventory management, all of these things that were so tedious, I'm actually so envious of so many of these younger managers that don't have to do month end the way that I did.

 

Andrew Siegwart  39:12

But I know, yeah, what a change.

 

Kelly Higginson  39:15

Yeah, real change. You know? I mean, I laughed with somebody last week. I was on a panel, and they were talking about how AI takes the the invoice right out of your email and your phone, and it inputs it in, and it does all the costing. And I said, Well, that takes the fun out of the search for that missing invoice at the month end, and everybody's calling your supplier, and you're looking under the desk and you're who lost the invoice. So anyways, like really exciting stuff, using AI for menu development, you know, supporting chefs in in even coming up with all of the the language around their menu. I mean, this is stuff that's such a time saver. It's not that it's actually creating the recipe. It's just it's taking the recipe and putting it into the language for the customer. So I. You know, there's a lot of benefits to to having this as a support to and we're calling it high tech for high touch, not taking over. It's not replacing people with robots. And I actually can't stand the idea of robots, but it's not about the robots. It's about making sure that we're supporting the service, so that we can have that extra time with our employees and in training and development, so we can have, you know, an environment for the employees that is that is that much more efficient and an enjoyable work environment,

 

Andrew Siegwart  40:36

for sure. Yeah, the back end can take care of the detail, allowing us at the front end to actually have conversations, build relationships, Coach all those Connect. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. It's interesting to me, because I feel like restaurants food culture is so in the zeitgeist right now. So if you think of the popularity of Michelin, or you think of all of the food programs on television and all of the like people are really interested in in food, yeah, how? How does that? How does that cultural moment connect to restaurants? Do you see restaurants leveraging it and getting involved in and that type of marketing channel more so than they did in the past, for

 

Kelly Higginson  41:21

sure. I mean, I think the exciting thing is seeing this. I think what it does is it excites that younger generation as well around looking at culinary opportunities. And again, that's where we really need them to have that access to colleges and post secondary training to be able to hone those skills. And it also highlights to people that that food experience is so important to us. And I think we're looking for things that we can feel. And it goes back to, you know, even highlighting things that I didn't think the budget touched on. You know, Canadians are really feeling that they want it's about experiences. And I think we see that more and more when people talk about gifts that they're giving each other, it's not necessarily material items. It's giving a gift of an experience, and whether that is going out to a mission star restaurant and you're giving that to each other, or whether that is going away somewhere, and of course, you're going to be a part of going away to a new town or city, visiting Halifax, and all the amazing restaurants that they have there is going to be, of course, a part of it. So, you know, I really think the Canadians are at a point where they just need that comfort, and they really need to feel, they need to feel something in that experience. So I absolutely see restaurants leveraging that. We're seeing more and more of them that are tapping into their grandmother's recipes and tapping those traditional, traditional recipes. And then I look at a lot of the the different cultural aspects to our and I mean, we're fortunate, you and I, to be living in such a diverse city as Toronto. I mean, it's, it's amazing. I can walk up the street and have Ethiopian I can walk down the street and have enough canny meal. I mean, it's just remarkable. And I think Canadians are also really enjoying exploring that aspect of it, from the cultural piece of it. And then we've got so many new cultures here. We're going out and dining and interacting is just a part of their life. I mean, I I I love looking at some of the parks where some of our more the more Middle Eastern communities are living, and they gravitate in the evening, they all go to the park, and they bring their small barbecues and their whole families out there. And it's, it's just such an experience and so healthy. They're not sitting on the couch watching Netflix, closing themselves off from the world, right? You're coming together to connect with food and using our parks. You know, amazing. So I think I and I absolutely see sea restaurants are definitely tapping into that.

 

Andrew Siegwart  43:53

Amazing, amazing. Well, as we approach the holiday season and perhaps the post holiday season, what's one thing that you think every listener could do to make a difference to our restaurant owners across the country?

 

Kelly Higginson  44:07

Well, we were talking about experiences and gift giving. And you know, I think there is no better gift than being able to spend time with somebody, and I say this is somebody who I have my family here in Toronto, but my mother and sister and her family are all out in Vancouver Island. And so the value of being able to for a gift, give someone a coffee time. You know, it's not just a gift certificate. This is not a gift card. This is you and I are going to go together and spend time together, and whatever that that looks like, whether it is your mother, your sister, a friend, somebody who you know doesn't have family for the holidays, but but going out and being a part of the environment of the restaurants, and again, going back to that experience and then supporting your your local restaurant.

 

Andrew Siegwart  44:59

Yes, I couldn't think of a better gift of everyone's time for each other. So that was great advice. Well, thank you so much for spending time with us today, for catching up on what's happening. I know how busy you are, and you know congratulations for the work that you and your team do across the country to support

 

Kelly Higginson  45:19

definitely a big team effort.

 

Andrew Siegwart  45:21

It is a big team, and it's a stellar team. I love working with your colleagues. They're so supportive to us as well. Thank you again for you know, opening up space, it's your convention, for us to co host an event last year that was so fantastic. Yeah, we're doing it again this year, and I just feel like the more, the more we partner and leverage each other, the better it is for the industry. So

 

Kelly Higginson  45:43

absolutely, yeah. So thank you for that. Thanks for all your collaboration and inviting me on to talk today.

 

Mary Anne Ivison  45:51

Thanks for listening to forward motion. This show is created by the tourism industry association of Ontario and is recognized by government as the voice of tourism and produced by everyone at the sound off media company you.