Dining out now a luxury for many, Halifax restaurant owner says

Dining out — what was once an affordable and convenient experience — is now a luxury for many, says the owner of a Halifax restaurant. 

"It's not for everybody anymore. I certainly can't afford to dine out," said Simone Mombourquette, the owner of Mappatura Bistro in Halifax.

Mombourquette said she wonders how much longer she can operate a business with a low-profit margin in an industry that's been hit with inflation, labour shortages and burnout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

And she's not the only one.

She said other restaurants are increasing menu prices just to break even. 

"And you're wondering if the market will bear those prices like, will people pay those prices?" she said. 

Profit margins for restaurants in Nova Scotia have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels and are lower than the rest of Canada. 

According to the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, the profit margin for restaurants in 2022 was 3.5 per cent, down from four per cent in 2019. Nationally, it was 4.1 per cent in 2022, compared to five per cent in 2019.

Gordon Stewart, the association's director, said those figures are expected to drop further in 2023.

"The restaurants are going to be much more challenged over the next couple of years than they were over COVID," Stewart said.

Earlier this month, two prominent Halifax restaurants — Julep Kitchen & Cocktails and Hermitage — announced they would be closing immediately.

"Due to skyrocketing costs, food inflation, [COVID] shutdowns and debts incurred over the past three years, it has become impossible to operate sustainably," Lawrence Deneau, the owner of the two restaurants, said in an Instagram post.

Breaking even or losing money

Stewart said the current situation for restaurants is worse than it ever was during the pandemic.

Half of the restaurants operating in Nova Scotia are either just breaking even or losing money, he said, now that most COVID-19 supports, subsidies and grants have ended.

He said it's also challenging for restaurants to mitigate inflation, while they struggle with labour shortages, especially during the winter, when business is the slowest. 

"Food, alcohol, beverages, labour, cooks, gasoline, propane, electricity, cleaning — you name it — every one of those, not a single one, but every one of those have increased. Some of them by double digits." 

According to Statistics Canada, in-store food prices rose 11.4 per cent in 2022, which makes it the fastest increase in grocery bills in over 40 years.

He said even though most restaurateurs were able to hit their 2019 sales volume benchmark in 2022, they weren't able to make a profit because of the increased prices. 

Extreme measures to stay open

Keeping restaurants open is resulting in extreme measures for some owners in Nova Scotia. 

Bill Pratt, the owner of Chef Inspired Group of Restaurants in Dartmouth, N.S., travelled to Bangkok in Thailand last week to hire foreign workers amid the labour shortage. 

He said a federal loan of up to $60,000 that was offered to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic is also looming over restaurant owners, as it's due at the end of the year.

"Like how can a jug of oil go from $16 to $63? How can a case of lettuce go to $144, when it used to be $38?" said Pratt. 

Thomas Spencer, general manager of The Wooden Monkey in Halifax, said sourcing food from local farms, which has become cheaper during the pandemic, has been a saving grace.

"The relationships we have with those local farms often have yielded less price increases, less percentage increases, and allowed us to mitigate some of that inflation cost," said Spencer.

Still, he said, the restaurant has increased prices over the last year to keep up, as he has seen items from outside the province, like dried goods and dishwashing liquid, increase in price by up to a 100 per cent.