Have you had dinner lately? – Poll

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Kelowna restaurants say they are facing a slow winter season due to high inflation rates.

OEB Breakfast Co. of Kelowna says winter is usually the slowest season. The restaurant says it relies on locals and large groups to fill the tourism gap.

“We’re definitely dependent on local traffic, local businesses, people on their lunch breaks and things like that. I think everybody’s getting a little bit of a cost bump across the city. All the restaurants definitely struggle, especially in the winter, but we’ve done some things.”

“We just released a new menu with some new items. We try to keep things exciting. We recently launched Skip and Door Dash which should help keep things on top of things, especially in the slow months,” said restaurant manager Josh Mckenzie.

Bohemian Cafe owner Hans Birker says he has been forced to raise prices by 12 percent since the pandemic and predicts prices will have to rise again in the near future.

Birker says that in all the uncertainty it is positive that the cafe has been able to maintain the number of employees.

Birker told Castanet that it seems like service sector positions are starting to get filled more easily.

The OEB, on the other hand, says that inflation has affected their costs.

“In terms of pricing, everything seems to be going up. Almost everywhere. That’s pretty consistent across the industry, I think,” Mckenzie added.

According to Restaurants Canada, Canadian consumers began to tighten their purse strings in August amid high inflation as fewer Canadians bought restaurant meals, despite August typically being a busy month for the industry.

Economists say that the gradual national slowdown will continue into the autumn months.

“It’s no surprise that consumers are becoming more cautious and discretionary products such as dining and entertainment are shrinking, with monthly sales gains at bars and restaurants shrinking in the summer months,” said TD Economics’ Ksenia Bushmeneva. , in a note to investors.

“All in all, consumers will have to make tough choices in the coming months, all of which point to significantly weaker consumer spending in 2023.”

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