Canadians have enjoyed the food restaurants serve through takeout during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a survey shows many want to wait before dining in again.
A report from Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab examined the results of a recent Angus Reid survey that reached out to 1,505 Canadians, asking whether they ordered food from restaurants during the pandemic and what their dining plans are as more public health measures are lifted.
Dalhousie and Angus Reid funded the survey, which was conducted in early June.
Just over half of respondents (52 per cent) said they will avoid restaurants as they reopen to the public in order to protect their own health.
Dalhousie sociology professor Harold Ramos, one of the collaborators on the report, said that “people say they won’t rush back to restaurants, but almost everyone plans to go back eventually. This will be hard for (small and medium-sized enterprises) who may already be on the brink of failing, and it means gift cards or other means of supporting them in the reboot is needed.”
In the survey, 26 per cent cited physical layout as a reason they would not be going to a restaurant, while 10 per cent cited food safety reputation and 22 per cent had undisclosed reasons to avoid restaurants. Only 18 per cent of those surveyed said they will go back to restaurants as soon as possible, while one-third said they will wait until a second wave of COVID-19 passes.
It would appear independently owned restaurants have an advantage over recognizable brands when it comes to reattracting customers. Sixty-four per cent said they intend to visit independent restaurants when they reopen, compared with 39 per cent for a well-known franchise or an outlet that's part of a franchise.
Canadians have been ordering a lot of takeout. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they ordered food at least every two weeks from a restaurant. The Atlantic region as a whole had the lowest rate at 58 per cent, while Saskatchewan was the highest at 76 per cent.
Younger people were far more likely to pay for restaurant meals. Eighty-one per cent of respondents aged 18 to 34 years old ordered takeout from restaurants during the pandemic, representing the highest rate among age groups surveyed, while 29 per cent ordered from restaurants at least once a week.
“Canadians appear to have never given up on restaurants, but when you’re at home, there are limitations to enjoying food prepared by a restaurant,” said the report's lead author, Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie.
What do Canadians expect to encounter when they do go back to a restaurant? More than two-thirds think they'll see lots of Plexiglas. Oddly, 12 per cent said they thought they might see mannequins or dummies in the booth next to them as restaurants try to appear busier.
The survey carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
