Red tape, taxes and fees are making the business of running a restaurant increasingly unviable, say many B.C. restaurateurs.
While restaurant owners accept the need for strictly enforced food safety regulations, many believe governments don’t consider the cumulative impact of other policies, such as civic restrictions on parking or a small hike to the minimum wage, which can drive a borderline restaurant into the red.
With B.C. restaurants having the second-lowest pre-tax profit margin in the country, industry insiders say things need to change or the province will see a swath of for-lease signs hang in the windows of once marginally profitable restaurants.
“When it comes to new rules and regulations that cost money, it’s like a death by 1,000 cuts,” said Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president for Western Canada of the federal lobby and research group Restaurants Canada.
Several years ago the provincial government and the BC Restaurant & Foodservices Association (BCRFA) collaborated to produce a manual that outlines all the steps that prospective restaurateurs must take when opening a restaurant.
B.C. Minister of Small Business Naomi Yamamoto hails the project as a success because it makes it clearer how to comply with government regulations.
BCRFA CEO Ian Tostenson has a different take.
“The manual does take restaurant regulations and rewrites them in English. The conclusion, though, has to be, ‘Who would want to open a restaurant in this province? There is so much regulation.’”
