Catering: Permits fall and bankruptcies rise from pandemic

More and more restaurants are struggling to make ends meet, and the declining number of restaurant permits proves it.

So there are about 2,000 fewer permits each year since the pandemic. Thus, by the end of 2023, there were 26,713 permits issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ) compared to 28,456 on the same date in 2019.

In addition, the Association Réséturation Québec noted an increase in bankruptcies, with 406 in 2023 compared to 216 in 2021. The situation is not improving as it was 68 last January, 67 in February and 55 in March.

These figures can be attributed specifically to the end of government aid, but restaurants must now repay loans granted to them during the pandemic.

“Certain firms have had a hard time getting there or perhaps miscalculated, and we hoped to be able to repay these loans by anticipating that the situation would probably return. [comme] Before the pandemic,” explained TVA Nouvelles, Director of Public and Governmental Affairs of the Association Restaurant Quebec.

According to her, one way to help restaurants a little is to encourage payment by debit card rather than by credit card because they have lower debit card fees.