In Vancouver, the high costs of housing and rent are well-known and joked about, just as are the rising prices of food and groceries.
Nowadays, it is getting more and more difficult to find affordable spots without spending around $20 for a meal.
But just as much as consumers are hurting, the food industry is also facing incredible difficulties.
Basically – everything is on fire.
Last year we’ve seen multiple closures of longtime food joints as they chose not to renew their leases.
Most people know about the lease hikes in the back of their minds, but very few people in the public actually know how high the prices have gotten.
We recently got a glimpse as we stumbled upon some business listings on Chinese social media.
The prices? Shocking.
The two January listings by Gavin Bai, a commercial real estate agent, highlighted the asking prices and rent for 2 food court stalls in Richmond that were mindblowing.
First, a modest 353-square-foot stall in Yaohan Centre is listed with an asking price of $168,000 and a whopping monthly gross rent of $12,794.25.
Meanwhile, a similarly sized stall at 350 square feet in Aberdeen Centre’s food court has an asking price of $158,000, with a monthly gross rent of $8,808.68.
Despite the high foot traffic in both Yaohan and Aberdeen food courts, the competition in these areas is extremely high.
And only a few stalls get majority of the business.
At Yaohan food court, it is easy to notice much of the crowd goes to Ajea Noodle and Chinese Baozi Master.
One can only imagine the volume of $15 orders a stall would need to sell just to break even each month.
Comparison with West Broadway
To put these numbers into perspective, consider a 1200 square foot unit on West Broadway, which comes at a gross rent of $7,822 and an asking price of $128,000.
Note: a listing for the same unit has been reduced to $99,000 on Restaurant Brokers.
This comparison shows the surprisingly steep costs of operating in Richmond’s popular food courts.
The Challenges for Food Businesses
These listings shed light on the immense financial pressures small food businesses face in prime locations – especially when you consider the razor-thin margins they typically have.
The struggle to balance high operating costs against the need to remain affordable for consumers is a challenge that continues to shape the landscape of local eateries.
The BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association has started a campaign to educate the public about the dire state of the food industry and in hopes of pressuring the government to make positive policy changes to help alleviate the troubles food businesses are faced with.
According to their findings, more than 50% of food service and hospitality businesses are currently unprofitable.
And restaurant bankruptcies have increased by 48% in the last ten months.
So while we are shocked by the prices of these listings and people are being more cautious with their money these days, it is important to understand the current dire situation our local food businesses are in.
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