Manitobans rank dead last in Canada when it comes to customer satisfaction at restaurants, according to a new study by the Agri-Food Lab at Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University.
According to the study, a pitiful 15 per cent of people in the province say they’re satisfied with their dining experience, based on how much money they’ve spent at restaurants.
Although in some provinces, like Quebec (42 per cent) and Prince Edward Island (41.2 per cent) satisfaction is considerably higher, a dismal 29.5 per cent of respondents across the country said they were either very satisfied or satisfied with their restaurant experiences based on the money they spent.
The survey, which gauged the opinions of 5,521 respondents across Canada (with a margin of error of +/- 2.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20) also shows that more than 88 per cent of respondents nationwide say they’re dining out less due to higher overall food prices compared with a year ago. A further eight per cent say they’ve stopped dining out entirely due to the cost.
Dalhousie prof Sylvain Charlebois told 680 CJOB’s The Start that there are a number of reasons for the less-than-stellar results — not only the price, but also the quality of food and service.
“Portion size did come up a lot — more than 65 per cent of people said they’ve noticed smaller portion sizes,” Charlebois said, “so this whole notion of ‘shrinkflation’ is impacting food service as well.
“At the end of the day, everyone’s suffering financially out there. When the pandemic (began), I think there was a lot of sympathy toward restaurants out there, but now, three years later, I think the picture has changed.”
Charlebois said there’s a lot of discussion in the food service industry about there being too many restaurants as people start to work from home more, and go out to eat less.
There’s a lot more pressure, he said, on restaurants to provide service above and beyond what was previously expected, because diners want a better experience with increased prices.
Winnipeg restaurateur Ravi Ramberran, owner of Dreamland Diner, told 680 CJOB that navigating an ever-changing industry and tackling staffing woes are two of the big issues restaurants are facing.
“Finding people that have that level of service — young people — is also challenging today,” Ramberran said.
“People that are willing to talk, willing to communicate, … people who are not shy to interact with the customer is a little bit different than it was 15 years ago.”
Despite the struggles to keep up, Ramberran said there’s one major tool restaurant owners can use to their advantage in 2023: social media, which has been helpful in terms of coming up with new ideas and getting them to the public quickly.
“Restaurants are a very, very expensive game to play right now, and a very, very risky game,” he said.
“I think a lot are kind of on the losing side right now in trying to survive. Since the pandemic, it’s been a tough go. We’re still pivoting almost daily.”