Building Block Associates

  • Home
  • Products & Solutions
    • View Supplies
    • What's In Season
    • Manage Mie Foodservice Manager
    • Foodservice Webinars
    • Become A Member
  • Online Store
  • Social Chat Blog
    • Foodservices News
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Home
  • Products & Solutions
    • View Supplies
    • What's In Season
    • Manage Mie Foodservice Manager
    • Foodservice Webinars
    • Become A Member
  • Online Store
  • Social Chat Blog
    • Foodservices News
  • Contact Us
  • Careers

Montreal restaurant owner wants government to have more control on new restaurants

12/19/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Francois Meunier, of the Association des restaurateurs du Quebec, is seen in his office Thursday, December 15, 2016 in Montreal. Image: Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — David McMillan, co-owner of Montreal's renowned Joe Beef restaurant, laments that virtually anyone, regardless of experience, can open an eatery in the gastronomical city.

Also read, Fast-food sales up in Alberta while full-service restaurants struggle.

"I can't decide tomorrow to practise plumbing, to practise amateur electricity," he muses in an interview with The Canadian Press. "In Montreal you can apply for a restaurant permit and get it immediately - that's a problem for me."

McMillan's view is by no means the consensus in the industry but it reflects part of the debate in Quebec among chefs, restaurant owners, citizens and politicians.

With competition so fierce and profit margins so small - roughly 2.7 per cent on average - the role Quebec's highly interventionist government should play in one of the province's most dynamic industries remains a source of contention.

The debate is not new and was rekindled earlier this year when Carlos Ferreira, owner of a well-known eatery, said Montreal should impose quotas in neighbourhoods to limit competition and help struggling legacy restaurants stay in business.

"I don't believe in the free market anymore," Ferreira said at the time. "We have to protect the good restaurants."

Celebrity chef Daniel Vezina said recently the fact so many restaurants close a few months after opening shows there are too many places to eat in Quebec City and Montreal.

"Everyone wants to open a restaurant, to become a chef - that has to change," Vezina told reporters.
Montreal has one of the highest per-capita ratios in North America with regard to restaurants, and the proliferation of places to eat is worrying local politicians.

The main commercial artery in the borough of Saint-Henri became so popular with restaurateurs that councillors decided to pass a bylaw to create what they called a "better balance" between retail, services and restaurants.

The law bans all new restaurants on Notre-Dame Street - where Joe Beef is located - within 25 metres of an existing one.

McMillan agrees with the bylaw.

If all the commercial spots on a street are filled with restaurants, he says, then there is no foot traffic before 6 p.m., which he believes kills the vitality of the neighbourhood.

His main complaint, however, is that people with little culinary knowledge or skill can endanger people's health. Moreover, McMillan says high turnover rates makes insurance more expensive and bank loans harder to get for the more serious players.

"I'm going to serve 100 meals tonight and I pray and I work so hard that everyone has a wholesome and healthful meal," he said.

"The opportunity to introduce raw food and animal protein into people's bodies is not to be taken lightly. At a minimum, there should be some kind of certification."

But that would risk turning the city's restaurant scene into a heavily bureaucratized nightmare like the province's construction industry, says Francois Meunier of Quebec's restaurateur lobby.

While chefs and owners can't agree on issues such as restaurant quotas and chef certification, Meunier says most of his members' profits are threatened by road construction, high property and licensing taxes, as well as the potential for a $15 hourly minimum wage.

"It's only restaurateurs complaining there are too many restaurants," he said. "Ask people, citizens, they have full choice, great price for quality compared to other cities.

"The role of the government is to offer conditions that are adequate for us to operate and not to strangle us with taxes."

But Meunier's position is nuanced and flirts with contradiction.

When it comes to food trucks, Meunier and his lobby don't have a problem with regulations to limit entrants.

Montreal ended its ban on food trucks in 2013 but only allows restaurants with physical locations to operate them _ cutting out anyone with modest means from starting a small street-food business.

"If we allowed anyone to do it we would have 500 hot dog trucks," Meunier said. "And it wasn't what the citizens wanted, it wasn't what the city wanted."

And while calls for restaurant quotas get a lot of attention, politicians have been lukewarm to the idea so as not to meddle with a recipe that is making Montreal, despite its poor infrastructure and sluggish economy, a destination-of-choice for discerning food tourists.

McMillan says bring on the competition.

"I worked in the top 10 restaurants in Montreal 25 years ago — none of them are here today," he said. "All of the top 10 restaurants in Montreal right now — none of them will exist in 20 years. That's history. That's cyclical. Who says you're good? You're good and then you're not."

SOURCE Giuseppe Valiante, The Canadian Press
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Go to blog
    Advertisement

    RSS Feed

    News & Updates

    Stay informed with the latest news around foodservice, agriculture and other related food news.

    Do you Enjoy our E-news & Updates?
    Get our foodservice E-news, blogs and LTO's sent to your inbox, SUBSCRIBE HERE.

    Advertisement Opportunities 
    To get your foodservice business in our daily e-news, here.

    Archives

    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Categories

    All
    Agriculture And Food Safety
    All Day Breakfast Menu
    Beans Benefits
    Beverage Company
    Building Construction
    Candy Company
    Carbonated Drinks
    Chicken Farm
    Dairy Production
    Fast Food
    Fast Food Chains
    Food Prices
    Generation Z
    Genetically Modified Organisms
    Gluten Free
    Grocery Retailer
    Healthy Meals For Kids
    Imported Foods
    Imported Foods From Other Countries
    Liquor Licence
    Milk Industry
    Milliennials
    National Food Holidays
    Nut Allergies
    Organic & Natural
    Processed Foods
    Produce Industry
    Restaurant
    Restaurant Management
    Restaurant Ordering System
    Restaurateurs
    Seafood
    Sustainable Resources
    Sweet Snacks
    Sweet Tasting Desserts
    Tree Nuts
    Value Menu Offering
    Ways To Reduce Food Waste

    Picture
    Advertisement
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.