Why P.E.I. restaurants can expect booming markets into the future

P.E.I. restaurants are having a great year, and a researcher at Dalhousie University says restaurateurs can expect that to continue.

For the year 2019 to the end of October, sales are up more than eight per cent. While delivery has been a hot market nationally, full-service restaurants are also doing well on the Island, with growth of almost eight per cent for the year-to-date.

Sales have been strong both inside and outside of the tourist season.

The biggest percentage growth month over month was in March, up 13 per cent, with double-digit growth in May and June as well.

Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, does not find this growth surprising.

"It points to our constant pursuit for convenience. It is the new normal," said Charlebois.

"A lot of people either don't have the time or the knowledge to cook at home and we do travel a lot. We spend more time outside the home and the food service industry is there to feed us."

That trend is only growing, Charlebois said. He noted Americans are already spending half their food budgets on food service, and Canadians are expected to reach that point in 2032.

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