TORONTO – Soccer’s World Cup is providing more than hours of entertainment for fans in Toronto. It’s also boosting the bottom line for many businesses across the city.
Emporio de los Sandwiches, a Uruguayan bakery on Wilson Avenue, has already seen a 15-20 per cent increase in business, even though the tournament is in its opening days.
“It’s really good for business, we have a lot of people from other countries…not only Uruguay but Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia that come to buy,” Mariela Mantero, the owner of the store, said.
She said the Uruguayan flag catches people’s attention and gets them to ask about it.
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“Some people don’t know our flag, so like, ‘oh where are you guys from,’ you say ‘from Uruguay. Oh come try our pastries’ and they start liking them and coming more,” she said.
At the Football Factory, co-owner Chrissy Whittick said 25 per cent of the year’s business could be chalked up in the next month. However, she notes there are added costs in getting the extra business.
“We’ll have security on both doors, beefed up staff, beefed up ordering. So, in the grand scheme of things while it’s a nice boost it still costs the small business to be able to host something like this quite a bit.”
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Thirty-two countries are compete in the five-week long World Cup tournament. People from all of them call Toronto home. The city is one of the most multicultural in the world where more than 140 languages and dialects are spoken.
Churrasqueira Nova Lisboa and Yauca’s Lounge – in the Bloor-Dovercourt area – offers a taste of Africa.
“We’ve got Senegal cuisine, Angolan cuisine and Camaroonian cuisine. Big diversity,” Yauca De Almeida, the store’s owner said.
De Almeida has already seen more customers come in and is hoping to see an increase in profit as the tournament continues.
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