3 Important Takeaways from the Restaurant Canada Show

By Fred Puech, Vice President of Pricing Analytics and Restaurant Expert at Pricing Solutions

Last month I was given an opportunity to attend the Restaurant Canada (RC) Show, a 3-day exhibition on the restaurant and foodservice industry. Held in Toronto, Canada, the show was the most prominent restaurant and bar event in the country with over 250,000 sq. ft. of innovative products and services including food and beverage products, furnishings, and technology. As part of the Restaurant Canada Show, I also attended feature presentations at the RC Leadership Conference, themed “People, Profit, and The Planet.”

This exhibition was a great opportunity to network with leading foodservice businesses and learn about the key trends in the restaurant industry. In this recap, I would like to share with you my three main takeaways on the future of restaurants and the foodservice industry.

1. Digital Innovations are Growing

Digitization and disruptive technologies are taking over (perhaps in all industries), so it didn’t come as a surprise to me that technology and Big Data were a part of the conversation for restaurants. However, it was entirely unexpected to see Google on a speaking panel at a restaurant show. Google staff discussed their partnership with McDonald’s Japan which combines McDonald’s POS data with Google data to send real-time offers to customers. Also, last year Google rolled out Duplex, which is an AI voice assistant that makes restaurant reservations for you. In fact, voice ordering will supposedly become mainstream in the next three years.

2. Meat Consumption is Dead

Following the change in meat consumption across North America, there were fewer meat vendors at Restaurant Canada Show this year. Instead, I noticed many plant-based protein solutions at the show. In the past, vegetarian and vegan items used to be simple options on menus, very often priced at a premium. Now things are changing – vegetarian and vegan options must be an integral part of the menu, and customers do not necessarily expect to pay a premium for these items.

3. Delivery is Just Getting Started

One of the most significant topics was food delivery, and delivery companies were highly visible at the Restaurant Canada Show. Uber Eats was hosting the virtual “restaurant of the future,” and the primary sponsor of the event was Skip the Dishes, which presented a very insightful talk on the importance of data and customer segmentation at the RC Leadership Conference.

What Was Missing at the RC Show?

While sustainability and digital data were the major topics of the event, the subject that I thought was left behind was… pricing. Many presentations and talks were focused on communicating value to customers, but it is also equally important to discuss how that value is defined and quantified. In our experience, having the right value-based pricing capabilities in place can streamline performance measurement as well and improve decision making processes for restaurants.