Toronto Life is the city’s most confident, sophisticated and influential publication by helping readers make smart choices about food, shopping and culture.
Subscriber Information
Toronto Life
THE CONVERSATION
EDITOR’S LETTER
Back to Business • Workers are returning to the Financial District en masse—whether they like it or not
Q&A Must-See TV • Polaris Prize–winner Lido Pimienta is a singer, songwriter and pot-stirrer. Her new CBC show, Lido TV, explores sex, race and colonialism. Things could get interesting
Ego Meter • WHAT’S MAKING AND SHAKING THE CITY’S SELF-IMAGE
Cost of Living • What Torontonians make and how they spend it
The Audit • AN APPRAISAL OF THE MONTH IN MONEY
The Questionnaire
Urban Diplomat
THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY IS BROKEN • TORONTO’S TOP CHEFS ON HOW TO FIX IT
THE NOWHERE TO GROW PROBLEM • A restaurant is only as good as the ingredients it can afford, and it’s become a lot harder and more expensive to get the goods in recent years. Supply chain snafus, inflation, climate change, war—it all contributes to a world where once-regular menu items may no longer be available. This means reimagining what we’re looking to put on our plates and how we get it—starting in our own backyard.
THE “YES, CHEF” PROBLEM • We’ve all seen the reality food shows with the red-faced, expletive-spewing, hotshot head chef—or heard the stories of their overworked and underpaid subordinates. Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen is in its 21st season, and The Bear, FX’s drama about a fine-dining chef running the family sandwich shop, was the summer’s hit series. Industry jobs—and all the booze, drugs and workplace abuse that come with them—are glamourized, the negative behaviour perpetuated. It doesn’t have to be this way.
THE STANDARD OF LIVING PROBLEM • Our city is expensive. According to the Ontario Living Wage Network, as of November 2021, a person living here needs to make at least $22.08 an hour to afford the basics: food, clothes, rent, transportation, child and medical care. Yet the minimum wage in Toronto is $15.50. Servers rely on tips to top up their incomes, but restaurants aren’t always busy, and tips can be inconsistent. Paying staff a predictable living wage and benefits means hiking menu prices and going tip-free, something not all restaurateurs—or staff—are prepared to do. And would it even be enough?
THE PROFIT MARGIN PROBLEM • In mid-August, the asking rent for a 2,100-square-foot commercial space in Corso Italia was $6,825 a month—and that’s not even including taxes, maintenance and insurance costs. No matter how you slice that number, it’s going to take a lot of sales to make ends meet. In our current economic climate, how can Toronto restaurants go from barely surviving to thriving?
THE FAILURE TO LAUNCH PROBLEM • Anyone with the will and the means to cover start-up costs and rent can open a restaurant. In pre-pandemic 2019, the City of Toronto issued 7,988 licences for dinein establishments. But getting through various government agencies and reams of red tape requires more than passion and a healthy bank account: the system seems designed to keep out first-time small-business owners while the big chain restaurants of the world multiply.
THE WORK-LIFE BALANCE PROBLEM • Restaurant industry life is not nine to five. Most people in it end up working evenings and nights and often into the wee hours of the morning, then trying not to wake up their families while eating something quick and filling—a few forkfuls of Kraft Dinner, a bowl of cereal—before crashing. It’s a life that can make spending quality time with kids, partners, friends and family nearly impossible. Factor in a lack of weekends off and next to no personal or vacation days and you have a recipe for burnout.
IN 2018, A...