Manitoba budget stacks up costs for restaurants

WINNIPEG, April 30, 2015 – Today’s provincial budget raises the hourly minimum wage by 30 cents to $11 as of Oct. 1 – a move that will only hurt jobs in Manitoba’s restaurant industry, particularly for young people.

“This is essentially a placeholder budget with no clear vision for the business community,” says Dwayne Marling, Restaurants Canada’s Vice President Manitoba-Saskatchewan. “Raising labour costs at a time when the province’s restaurant industry is struggling is bad for business, bad for the economy, and bad for Manitobans.”

In 2014, Canada’s restaurant industry was the top job creator. However, Manitoba was one of only three provinces to actually lose jobs in the restaurant industry last year.

Labour costs continue to rise

• From 2001 to 2015, Manitoba’s minimum wage will have climbed 76%, which is 2.5 times the rate of inflation growth in that period.
  The latest jump in minimum wage will cost the province’s restaurant industry $8.3 million a year, or $3,330 a restaurant.
• “Restaurants already face intense cost pressures on all fronts,” says Marling. “Our members want to hire more Manitobans, but budgets like this make that hard. The government needs to step up with a strong plan and work with us, not against us.”

Manitoba’s $2-billion restaurant industry is one of the province’s largest economic and employment sectors. It directly employs more than 40,000 people in communities across Manitoba.

Restaurants Canada (formerly the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association) is a national association comprising 30,000 businesses in every segment of the foodservice industry, including restaurants, bars, caterers, institutions and their suppliers. Through advocacy, research, and member programs and services, Restaurants Canada is dedicated to helping its members in every community grow and prosper.