Foodservice In Canada: CHD Expert Breaks Down the Current National Landscape

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Oct. 7, 2015 - PRLog -- Canada is one of planet’s most vast and diverse countries, and this melting pot has produced a rich and tasty foodservice landscape. While it may be most widely known for both its European-inspired and French Canadian cuisine, the menu types that are the most popular in terms of total number of units showcase a nod towards Italian, American, and even Asian flavors.

CHD Expert, the Global Foodservice Data and Analytics Company has evaluated Canada’s foodservice landscape as identified in CHD FIND® (Foodservice Industry National Database), and reports on the state of the union across "The Great White North."

As of September 2015, FIND contains records on more than 184,000 foodservice operators across Canada. The foodservice operator landscape includes roughly 84,000 restaurants, 10,000 hotels, 50,000 food retailers, 24,000 education institutions, 6,000 healthcare facilities, and 4,000 bars.

Retail Data is a newly integrated segment available in FIND Canada, and the data can be further broken down among food retailers and retail stores like Groceries, Convenience Stores, Super Markets, Liquor Stores and other establishments.  For example, CHD Expert has data on 19,748 grocery stores in Canada and 4,272 super markets.

Considering the restaurant segment, approximately 55% of restaurants in Canada are considered Full Service Restaurants (FSR), and the remaining 45% are Limited Service Restaurants (LSR). FSRs offer table service and the bill is paid after food is consumed, and at LSRs food paid for before it is served.

Over 91% of FSR establishments are independent, with the largest FSR chain being Boston Pizza. In the LSR segment, 43 percent of these establishments are independent, with many mid size regional Canadian chains like Mr. Sub and Second Cup having a strong presence across the nation. A restaurant brand is considered independent when it has 9 or fewer locations in operation, and once a 10th location is opened, the brand is considered a chain.

The restaurant chain Tim Horton’s is a Canadian staple with 2,600 units in operation; not including the 750+ units across the USA, but is Subway that has nudged it way to become the most prevalent restaurant in Canada, and the world, with approximately 2,800 units nation-wide. Rounding out the top five on the list of most prevalent restaurants in Canada are McDonald’s, Starbucks, and A & W Restaurant, in that order.

While none of these popular Chain restaurants include an actual “Pizza” on the menu (though Mr.Sub does offer a Pizza Supreme Sandwich), the Pizza and Pasta menu type is the second most popular menu type amongst all restaurants in Canada, with 11,000 establishments being classified in this segment.

The Varied menu type is the most prevalent, and Beverages is third on the list with over 9,000 units. The Other Asian Menu Type follows in fourth with 8,000 reported units across the country, and the Sandwich/Soup Menu Type completes the top five most popular menu types with more than 6,000 reported units.

Ontario is the Providence with the most restaurants in Canada with approximately 37,000 units. Quebec and British Columbia both have about 17,000 restaurants each.

Further breaking down the landscape in British Columbia, over 83% of restaurants are independent, including 98% of the 966 Chinese restaurants and 97% of the 2,089 Other Asian restaurants. The providence also has the second most hotels in the nation, with 88% of its 2,200+ hotels being classified as independent.

"At CHD Expert, we are excited to be growing our foodservice database in Canada," says Brad Bloom, VP of Sales and Marketing at CHD Expert Americas. "The foodservice industry in Canada is unique, and we are glad to collect and analyze the data on Canadian operators as they make waves across the nation."

To request specific information about any operator in Canada, please email brad@chd-expert.com. Or For a Free 7 day access to CHD Expert FIND Canada, please visit: http://info.chd-expert.com/chd-expert-canada-free-trial

CHD Expert is an industry leader in collecting, managing, and analyzing foodservice data. We provide street level details for 5 million operators in 50 countries. Our Canadian foodservice database features 40+ filters you can use to segment and identify highly targeted and actionable information.

Our objective is to support food service suppliers and their strategy, insight, sales, and marketing departments by providing the most comprehensive and accurate foodservice census.