November/December 2020

Technomic estimates
2020 retail sales
equivalent (RSE) for
bars and restaurants
in Canada will
experience a decrease
between 22 and 24
per cent.
thing happening
right
now is this phenomenon
that I call
‘the democratization of
the food supply chain’ as a
result of COVID-19. Because
of e-commerce, everyone has
access to the consumer,” adds
Charlebois. “We actually are
expecting online sales for food to
triple this year as a result of the
pandemic.”
Many restaurant companies
turned to HMR and meal-kit
offerings to supplement revenue
during the height of pandemic
shutdowns. For example,
TopTable Group, Oliver &
Bonacini and Joey introduced
grocery and meal-kit offerings
for online ordering and delivery.
Expanding on its cookat-home
offerings, Liberty
Entertainment Group launched
a boutique grocery concept offering
restaurant-quality products
direct to consumers, as well as
a selection of spirits and wines
curated from its restaurants’ wine
cellars.
“We created a
Cibo Market within
our [Cibo] restaurants…because
we had
suppliers, we had food [and]
we had the space,” explains Di
Donato. “Those did fairly well,
helped us get through,” he adds
noting the new revenue stream
helped mitigate losses.
And, moving forward, Di
Donato says the company is eying
further moves into e-commerce.
“[We plan to] continue looking
for things like [Cibo Market],
which are restaurant/hospitality
related, but can get us outside of
just being bricks and mortar.”
Moreno notes “the innovation
that we had [done] earlier certainly
helped carry us through.”
This innovation included an
online liquor-delivery platform
that had been in the works prior
to the pandemic, which JRG was
able to accelerate and launch
quickly after lockdowns occurred.
“We’ll continue to push down
that road,” he adds, referring to
delivery-focused initiatives within
the company.
In September, Toronto-based
General Assembly Pizza launched
a pizza-subscription service offering
free home delivery for stacks
of four to 10 pizzas, building on
its line of frozen pizzas launched
in the spring. While initially
available to customers in Toronto,
the brand plans to expand the
service throughout Ontario
in 2021.
And, in October, Torontobased
iQ Foods Co. launched iQ
Essentials, offering a new line of
ready-to-cook meals and snacks for
front-door delivery once a week.
And, while some operators
continue to explore and roll
out new e-commerce platforms,
Moreno says the future of JRG’s
meal-kit offerings is “iffy,” noting
declining demand as most
businesses re-opened. However,
“direct to consumer is still
something we’re looking at and
plan to keep pushing forward,”
he adds, highlighting the important
role its food- and liquordelivery
platforms have played
in the company weathering the
pandemic. “The direct-to-consumer
[channels], regardless of
COVID-19, was something that
was coming anyway.”
As Hopkins points out, the
HMR and meal-kit market is now
highly competitive and has even
tighter margins than restaurants.
And, with many caterers and
restaurants seeing these markets
as an opportunity, “that’s
extremely challenging,” he says,
“because there’s so many people
trying to pivot to that.”
MOVING FORWARD
The disruption caused by the
pandemic is expected to have a
range of far-reaching impacts
on the foodservice industry, not
the least of which is the growing
number of permanent closures.
Charlebois says he anticipates
approximately 30 per cent of all
Canadian foodservice establishments
could go out of business
“by next year.”
“For a very long time, our
industry is going to be a lot more
cautious,” says Di Donato. “I
don’t think you’re going to see the
rapid growth in a lot of areas that
you’ve seen before in the food
industry — because this could
happen again.”
“[The pandemic has] made
the consumer a little more
empathetic to restaurateurs
and the hospitality industry, to
understand how difficult our
business is,” Di Donato adds.
“I also think communities will
realize how important our
industry is to community.”
Given the level of uncertainty
felt within the industry, focus
on diversification seems to be
on the rise. A prime example,
Paramount Fine Foods has
launched four new concepts
since June as part of its ‘pandemic
plan.’ In addition to Box’d,
Paramount has launched the
Brampton Cloud Kitchen offering
pickup and delivery; the friedchicken
concept Krispo Chicken;
and MAS.E.MO pizza in partnership
with chef Massimo Capra.
And, both Di Donato and
Moreno credit their companies’
diversified businesses as an asset
that’s helped them weather the
current crisis and pointed to
further diversification as a key
focus going forward.
Speaking to the future of
delivery and e-commerce
offerings, Charlebois adds, “I
don’t think there’s any going
back…because people are
getting accustomed to the service
— and the service is getting
better.” FH
PAULA WILSON
26 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM