Canada has a strong food and restaurant culture, and like many places in the world, its people are passionate about pizza. We've looked at the struggles, and markets of pizzerias throughout the country below.
Changing Tastes
Canadians’ tastes vary from province to province and have changed in the last few years. 45% of Canadian consumers indicated that they want operators to offer more authentic pizzas. They also want to try new things. In the same report, 22% of Canadian’s stated that they’re more interested in trying pizza with unique toppings or ingredients than they were two years ago.
But be warned, even though it was invented in Canada, not all Canadians like Hawaiian pizza.
A quarter of Canadians consider pineapple on pizza to be “blasphemy.” Some of those surveyed went further still, and stated that they could not be friends with someone who deemed themselves a “Hawaiian pizza enthusiast.” The Hawaiian pizza haters are mostly found in the Atlantic provinces, with nearly a third of the population deeming it blasphemy. The Prairies were more tolerant, with only 15% of those surveyed responding negatively.
To determine Canadians’ interest in pizza between January 2020 and June 2021, we looked at Google Trends to determine how often we searched for pizzerias.
Searches for “pizza delivery” peaked last August, with 100 searches/day. Searches for “pizza places” closely mirrored searches for pizza delivery throughout the pandemic, until mid-April 2021, when restaurants started reopening across the country. At that time, searches for “pizza places” began outpacing searches for “pizza delivery.”
Searches for “pizza restaurants” remained strong throughout 2020 and 2021. To compare this to the rest of the industry Google searches for “restaurant” dropped suddenly in March 2020 and have not yet recovered.
In 2021, the province or territory that searched the most for “pizza delivery” according to Google Trends was the Yukon, while New Brunswickers searched the most for “pizza places.”
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Labour Concerns
On the business end of things, restaurants in many provinces are grappling with labour shortages. Identified as the second greatest challenge for foodservice operators, 52% of operators are finding it difficult to fill positions.
Restaurant chains that have traditionally offered delivery are also facing new competition for delivery drivers. Since third-party delivery has entered the market, pizza chains have had to make adjustments for the increased competition. In an article about the issue, we spoke with Mike Fredrickson of Papa Murphy's Canada. "It's difficult to find drivers," he told us. "They work for Uber and Skip the Dishes in Alberta. A lot of our franchisees are tapping into family, and posting on Indeed, and Craigslist to find drivers."
Pizzerias that offer dine-in have been struggling to rehire following the pandemic as well. Many restaurants have reported difficulties rehiring for positions that were eliminated by closures during the pandemic.
Demographics of Pizza Eaters
Demographic trends can sometimes help predict the future of an industry. In Canada, Baby Boomers (now in their 50’s and 60’s) outnumber Millennials (in their 20’s, 30’s and 40s). Do Boomers eat pizza? Yes, but not as much as Millennials and Gen Xers.
According to Technomic, waning pizza consumption in Boomers may be due to health concerns, and a reluctance to eat “fast food.” If you want to entice the Boomers, focus on fresh, healthy-but-tasty menu items. Busy lifestyles for both Boomers and Millennials mean that convenient options like delco, take-and-bake, and fast-casual dine-in are popular.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, all generations have embraced restaurant delivery, with on-premise orders dropping by 85% from April 2019 to April 2021. Carry-out, delivery and drive-thru sales are up by 28% in that same time frame.
