Burger Love: Why one local restaurant is pulling out of the campaign

Fouad Haddad, who owns the Downtown Deli on Grafton Street, has participated in the campaign for the last two years.

But Haddad said he's not entering this year because the registration fee has jumped to $975, up from $850, not including HST.

Sixty restaurants and $1.9 million — there's some good profits to be made and many restaurants do quite well by it.— Robbie Dover, vice president at Fresh Media

Plus, he had to hire and train extra staff a month before last year's April campaign started. By the end of the campaign, he said, it all cost about $5,000.

"I haven't made any money on it," he said.

"The high cost and the campaign fees and the associated employee fees, it doesn't justify for us any more. We have to sell about 1,500 burgers just to make ends meet. It's not effective for us."

Haddad said he only sold about 1,200 burgers last year.

'Do the math'

Robbie Dover, vice president at Fresh Media, the Charlottetown company behind P.E.I. Burger Love, said he had to increase the registration fee by 15 per cent his year because  his own costs have gone up.

Dover said restaurant owners have to judge for themselves if they're getting enough bang for their buck.

"We want them to do the math and compare it to other mediums, because in the end they're paying for the exposure, they're paying for the guaranteed sales in regards to the fact that it's traceable," he said.

"You put an ad in another paper, another publication, you don't know if that's necessarily working. This is purely measurable on their end. Sixty restaurants and $1.9 million — there's some good profits to be made and many restaurants do quite well by it."

Dover expects to have the same number of restaurants to participate again this year.

Haddad plans to sell his own burger in April. Fresh Media said that's fine, as long as he doesn't use the Burger Love trademark.