2. Food in Waterloo Region
• Assumption 1:
– Food industry entrepreneurship is growing, if slowly
• Assumption 2:
– Food culture in Waterloo Region is growing, if slowly
3. Some Resto Statistics (courtesy CRFA)
• Resto industry = $63 billion p.a.
– 4% of Canada’s economic activity
• Resto industry employs 1.1 million people
– 6.5% of Canadian workforce; or, 4th largest sector
• Resto industry employs 483,000 people <25 y.o.
4. Looking Back
• Let’s pick just 10 years ago:
– A few precursors to a “Local Food Movement”
– A chain-restaurant Region
– Meat-and-potatoes
5. Business / Commerce Opportunities Ahead
• Three concepts to consider:
– Under-marketed [under-marketable?] restaurant sector
– Social Media / Piggy-backing on WatReg’s Hi-Tech energy
– Culinary Tourism
6. Then and Now: Marketing Minimalism
• Historically and Today:
– Restaurants = poor marketers
• Limited resources: money, time, people
– Local “ethnic” restaurants in Waterloo Region
• Unique and attractive but silent
7. Social Media in Food and Beverage
• Looking back only 5 years
– Little social media
– Many restaurants had meagre websites
– Few were savvy at communicating w/ customers
• Today: Uptown 21
– A good example of savvy
8. Future Social Media Smorgasbord?
• What does Waterloo Region’s Hi-Tech energy offer?
– Growing business / entrepreneurial interest in:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Quora
10. Tourism
• 2008 = 42.3 million overnight visitors to Ontario
• In terms of food, WR needs to unify programs & energies
“related to industry associations, food entrepreneurs” and
food communities;
• Tourism can provide opportunities for FnB
entrepreneurship between a multiple stakeholders.
[ adapted from OCTA Strategy P - Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance, “Culinary Tourism Strategy and
Action Plan: 2011-2015” [http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/publications/Culinary_web.pdf]
11. Culinary Tourism Defined …
• A tourism experience during which:
– Appreciation
– Education
– Consumption
– Reflection
… occurs in and around food and beverage “that reflects local,
regional, national cuisine, heritage, culture, tradition and
techniques.”
- [adapted from OCTA, Strategy Plan]
12. Who Are Culinary Tourists?
• Three distinct sectors:
1. 10% of tourists plan trips based on the food experience;
2. 80% include food experience in their larger tourism plans;
3. 10% of general tourists are “accidental culinary tourists”
• [UW Professor Stephen Smith / OCTA Strategy Plan]
• Sector 2 should be our target…
13. Waterloo Region Culinary Tourism
• Fragmented / scattered ...
• But with some developments: WR Tourism Corp’s
evolution
– This represents:
• Potential future business opportunities
• Improved quality of life in Waterloo Region
