Welcome to the Track & Food podcast. Host Jamie Mah is a writer, bartender and sommelier in beautiful Vancouver, BC. Join him as he takes a deep dive into everything food and culture happening in the city and around the globe.

Whether at work or with friends, one of the more common questions posed to me is: “Where do you recommend going for dinner?” In a city as varied and culturally diverse as Vancouver, options for delicious fare seem endless. But despite the abundance of intrigue and hard-to-book tables, the local sector is in peril (much like the beer industry featured in my previous episode). This is largely (still) owing to the hard-hitting pandemic, which left thousands of small businesses scrambling nationwide. In today’s episode we hone in on the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA), a $60,000 government assistance loan with a string attached: $20,000 in forgiveness if paid back by a specific date. That date passed in 2022 and was extended once more to January 18th, 2024. More than 885,000 small businesses and not-for-profits took out CEBA loans, totalling more than $48 billion.

According to a Restaurants Canada report from late October 2023, the Canadian food service industry was on track to reach a remarkable milestone, with a value of $110 billion in 2023. It is Canada’s fourth largest private employer, serving 22 million people per day – yet over 50 percent of restaurants and food service businesses are either operating at a loss or barely breaking even.

To better understand what is happening on the ground here in Vancouver, I’ve rounded up a few friends who also work in the industry: Shira Blustein (owner of Acorn and The Arbor); Shaun Layton (co-owner of ¿CóMO? Tapería); and James Iranzad (co-founder and operator of Gooseneck Hospitality, and a fixture on this podcast).

We debate where restaurants are headed in 2024 and what can be done to help an industry on the brink.