Tony Medeiros is a Montreal-based blogger with over 20 years of experience covering pop culture and the culinary scene. Known for his engaging reviews and unique insights, he has built a trusted voice for readers seeking informed and entertaining perspectives on food and entertainment. @sandboxworld @tonymedeiros @goodinothers
You know how some of us slow down to look at a car wreck? We don’t want to be in one, but we sure want to know what happened. I think opening a restaurant can be a little like that. From the outside, it can look like an accident waiting to happen. There is rent, equipment, food, staff, suppliers, regulations and, most importantly, customers you hope will actually show up. One thing goes wrong and you have a problem. A few things go wrong at the same time and suddenly the whole thing can start coming apart. So why do people do it?
If you want to see what that looks like, watch The Bear. In the episode “Review,” an unexpected flood of online orders sends the kitchen into chaos, with tickets piling up and the staff struggling to keep control. It makes for great television, but real restaurant owners have to deal with that kind of pressure every day. Before a new restaurant in Montreal serves its first customer, the owner can already be deep into a lease, renovations, permits, ventilation, plumbing, refrigeration, kitchen equipment, insurance, food and supplies. Then the doors open and the bills keep coming, whether Tuesday night is packed or nearly empty.
And yet, people keep opening them. Montreal now has nearly 5,600 restaurants, about 8% more than in 2025, according to figures from the Association Restauration Québec. The industry has recovered significantly from the pandemic, when nearly a quarter of Montreal restaurants had closed. Clearly, there are still plenty of people willing to take the chance.
The problem is that there isn’t much room for mistakes. Canada’s food-services and drinking-place sector had an overall operating profit margin of just 4.1% in 2024. Food and beverages accounted for 35.9% of operating expenses, salaries, wages and benefits accounted for another 33.6%, and rent and leasing 8.1%. When you are working with numbers like that, a major repair, a rent increase, higher food costs, or a few slow months can change the entire picture.
Then there is location. St-Hubert’s Sainte-Catherine Street East restaurant had been there since 1977, but major municipal work affected accessibility, customer traffic and sales, contributing to the decision to close. The company said the restaurant would face a difficult business outlook as the area undergoes major reconstruction. Fifty years in one location and an established name were still not enough to make the numbers work.
And then there is the Brasserie T! story. In early 2024, the group’s five Brasserie T! locations closed and 130 employees were affected. Three companies connected to the group sought protection from creditors, with debts reported at about $5 million and nearly 100 creditors, including food distributors, equipment suppliers, wineries and other businesses. Toqué! itself was not one of those bankrupt companies and remained open. Later that year, Toqué! itself was reported to have more than $1 million in debt and entered a creditor-proposal process to deal with its financial situation.
That is the part customers rarely see. We see the dining room, the menu and the plate arriving at the table. We don’t see the money sitting in the kitchen, the lease, the equipment or the invoices waiting to be paid. A restaurant can have a famous chef, a strong reputation and decades of history and still find itself fighting to keep the business alive. Reputation does not change the mathematics.
There is also no honest statistic telling us exactly how many Montreal restaurants fail or what the average failed restaurant owes its bank and suppliers. I would rather say that than throw around one of those impressive failure percentages that gets repeated without solid evidence. What we do know is that 440 restaurants and drinking places declared bankruptcy in Quebec in 2024, an 11.1% increase from the previous year. Bankruptcy is not the same thing as closing, but it does show that financial trouble is very real in the sector.
The type of restaurant matters too. There is no magic formula that guarantees success, but limited-service restaurants are now generating slightly more operating revenue nationally than full-service restaurants. In 2024, limited-service establishments generated $44.9 billion, compared with $44.2 billion for full-service restaurants. A smaller operation with fewer employees, less dining-room space, a simpler menu and faster turnover can have a very different cost structure. It doesn’t guarantee success, but lower costs can give an owner more breathing room.
So why do people do it? I think it starts with something that has nothing to do with spreadsheets. Someone loves food. They have a recipe, an idea, a family tradition, or a dream of having a place of their own. Then the dream meets the lease, payroll, suppliers, taxes, regulations and the bank account. Suddenly, the person who wanted to be a chef is spending half their time figuring out how to keep the business alive.
I remember something from my baking business many years ago: if you’re going to be a baker, be a baker. Don’t add the “n” and become a banker, because once you do, you can spend more time chasing money to keep the business afloat than doing what you actually love.
Maybe that’s why the restaurant business fascinates me. We slow down to look at the car wreck because we want to know what happened, but we don’t want to be the one behind the wheel. Opening a restaurant can sometimes feel like an accident waiting to happen, yet thousands of people keep getting behind the wheel.
Why?
Maybe they believe they can avoid the wreck. Maybe they love what they do. Or maybe, after looking at everything that can go wrong, they’re just a little bit crazy.
And sometimes, after losing one restaurant, they do it all over again.