Stock photo of a restaurant kitchen (Photo via Pixabay)

The BC Restaurants and Foodservices Association says it is focused on addressing the ongoing threat of tariffs, changes to BC’s liquor supply, and identifying new opportunities to showcase our members through its social media platforms.

The President and CEO of the BC Restaurants and Foodservices Association says losing access to many US products was the right thing to do, but its Ian Tostenson says it hasn’t really done the next step of connecting members to local products, particularly as it relates to hospitality.

He says the opportunity is there to connect the consumers to the products that we know are out there that are great local products and also to help cheerlead the economy. “So local wines out of Kamloops, Okanagan Valley and of course craft beers and craft distillers. And because we left a big bunch of spaces on our Liquor Distribution Board shelves. I think that’s really the opportunity for us is to the is connect the consumers to the products that we know are out there that are great local products.”

“Number two is cheerleading economy. By using the framework of this substantial hospitality restaurant industry, to talk to people about going out and spending a little bit of money, not a lot of money, but just making sure we continue to go out. That we don’t let this whole thing, south of the border get to get to our heads too much. Eventually it’ll get resolved. It might be a little bit tough, but I think it’s really important for us and to keep a positive outlook on this.”

Tostenson says he is not expecting to see much change when it comes to prices at restaurants. “Right now, we’re a little bit subject to the fresh produce and citrus fruit side of the states, but it’s not like those prices will go up. I don’t think it’s going to be really felt like you would see if you had protein prices going up. And we’re pretty good with dairy and protein in Canada with respect to our beef and our poultry and our eggs and our dairy. So that’s a major part of what we do. My feeling is, no, it’s not great, but we’re not going to see sticker shock like you saw post pandemic, when we had inflation that went up to almost 20% at one point.”

“The last thing we need right now is to have sticker shock when going to a restaurant when we have a bit of an economic problem going on and this tariff war.”

A shortage of workers continues to be an issue and Tostenson says the recent change in leadership in the federal government which comes  after parliament was prorogued for some time and now we face the likelihood of a snap election, it could pose some challenges for the industry. “Our big issue right now with the federal government is on immigration. As much as people don’t like that, we know we are short skilled cooks and chefs in our restaurants and the government took those basically off the table. So we are going to see, probably in six or seven months, the huge problem with labor.”

A couple of initiatives that the BCRFA is launching include:

• BCRFA is rolling out a new member-focused social media amplification program! If you would like us to share your content on Instagram, be sure to include ‘Proud Member @BCRFA’ somewhere in your story. Additional guidelines for partnered posts will be shared in the weeks ahead.
• As we announced last week, BCRFA has begun a new partnership with Foodbuy. We highly recommend members register as a way to save money on bulk food orders. For more details and to sign up please email Martin Brochu martin.brochu@foodbuy.ca