'I've never seen it like this': B.C. restaurants closing amid economic hardship
After 13 years on Commercial Drive, Cannibal Café is shutting its doors.
“It’s very sad,” said long-time customer David Bircham. “It’s part of the fabric of our city.”
The owner, Matt Thompson, says the restaurant never fully recovered from the impacts of the pandemic.
“Insurance costs more money, rent went up three grand, property tax, hydro. There’s no money in it anymore,” said Thompson, who also said personal health issues contributed to his decision.
In the same week, Rodney’s Oyster House announced its Gastown location is set to close before the new year, and Tacomio, another Vancouver favourite for some, officially announced it’s also closing its doors for good.
“The severe impacts of COVID-19, escalating costs, rent hikes, government taxes and labour shortages have created an environment where continuing our journey has become untenable,” reads a post on Tacomio’s Instagram page.
That restaurant’s owner told CTV News that high costs resulted in him having to raise prices, which deterred customers.
“I’ve never seen it like this,” said Ian Tostenson, BC Food and Restaurant Association president. “Fifty percent of the restaurants in B.C. are either losing money or breaking even.”
Tostenson says amidst inflation and the high cost of living, customers have changed their habits and aren’t spending as much on dining out.
Adding to the stress for restaurant owners, the federal CEBA loan payments are due in January.
“I think that’s going to be the end of it for a lot of small businesses that just can’t pay it back,” said Tostenson.
Earlier this week, CTV News spoke with a café owner who’s turned to a GoFundMe campaign to help pay off debt.
“There’s going to be a lot more restaurants closing,” said Thompson.
Tostenson says several groups are lobbying the government to extend its CEBA loan repayment date to help keep businesses afloat. With inflation starting to drop and potential cuts to interest rates coming in 2024, Tostenson does see a light at the end of the tunnel for the industry.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.