Rising Restaurant Prices Drive Quebecers to Grocery Store Ready-to-Eat Counters

With the price of restaurant meals rising, many Quebecers are turning to the ready-to-eat counters of grocery stores.

• Read also: Eating in a restaurant is becoming an overpriced luxury for Quebecers

• Read also: Fast food, an increasingly less affordable luxury for Quebecers

“We use it more, because we go to restaurants less, much less,” says Marie-Claude Tremblay, a health worker in her sixties.

With her husband, Gérald, they love to travel. “We had to make choices. Before, we did both: restaurants and trips. Now, we can no longer, our wages are not increasing as quickly as prices, ”she adds.

They chose the trip. “I always went to eat a chicken breast or thigh at the rotisserie, before, on Tuesdays, during lunch at work. Now that it costs $15 on special, I go to IGA and it costs me $8,” says Gérald.

Each person has their own reason for picking up something ready-made at the grocery store. For Michelle Bernier, who works in an RPA in the Quebec region, it’s a matter of time.

“I work a lot. I get up at 4am, I come home at 3pm and I need a little respite. I don’t want to cook all the time and buy everything to make the recipes,” says the lady, whom she met at the Metro’s ready-to-eat counter at Carrefour Charlesbourg.

She buys fast food about four times a week. With inflation, she also goes to restaurants less often.

Ready-to-eat is also popular with younger people.

“I go more often to buy prepared meals at the grocery store rather than having lunch at the café at university. It’s more affordable and tastier,” reveals River Guay, a student met at the Avril store in the Sainte-Foy district of Quebec.

Strong trend

Without revealing figures, grocers confirm that this is a growing sector and that demand is strong. They also give more space to this type of products in their stores.

“It is particularly marked in certain Provigo like Kirkland, L’Île-des-Sœurs and Saint-Bruno. Major renovations have added many linear feet for this category,” describes Johanne Héroux, of Loblaw (Provigo).

One of the Metro’s ready-to-eat counters located at Carrefour Charlesbourg, in Quebec City.

photo valerie lesage

At Metro, we decided to expand the offer by teaming up with chef Martin Juneau last May.

“We still see growth potential in this sector, it has always been important to us,” explains Marie-Claude Bacon, vice-president at the Quebec grocer.

The trend has even taken hold at Loblaw’s discount chain, Maxi. That’s how strong the demand is.

“More and more Maxi stores offer ready-to-eat or cook products. It is more limited there, but the fact that it is now found in a discount banner shows the importance of this trend,” says Ms.^me Héroux.

– With the collaboration of Valérie Lesage