Restaurant Marketing in Canada: Ten Percent Margins, Delivery Apps and Liquor Rules
Canadians pick restaurants on Google, reviews and delivery apps long before they walk in. Here is the 2026 marketing system for Canadian restaurants and cafes, built around ten percent margins, commission caps and Quebec language rules.
How Canadians actually choose where to eat in 2026
Statistics Canada put sales at food services and drinking places at $101.4 billion in 2025, up about 5.6 percent from 2024, while Restaurants Canada forecasts real sales flat or slightly negative in 2026, with about 44 percent of operators at break-even or a loss. (Statistics Canada) Demand has not disappeared; it has moved to a few digital surfaces.
TouchBistro's 2025 Canadian Diner Trends Report found about 35 percent of diners had used Google Reviews in the previous three months, and Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab reported in 2025 that about 27 percent of Canadians order through delivery apps more than monthly. Canadian diner surveys put Instagram first among social discovery platforms at roughly 17 percent. Build in that order.
Google Business Profile is the busiest table you own
Set the primary category precisely, since Ramen restaurant beats Restaurant, and fill Google's native menu editor with items and prices instead of a PDF. Add special hours for every statutory holiday, including provincial ones; a profile that says open on Thanksgiving Monday when the kitchen is dark earns a one-star review by dinner.
Since July 2024 Google no longer processes food orders itself and shows third-party ordering links by default, so Uber Eats or DoorDash can sit on your profile taking 15 to 30 percent of orders you could have taken. Mark your own ordering link as "Preferred by business" and connect bookings through Reserve with Google using a partner such as OpenTable, Resy or Tock.
The rating diners filter by, and the reviews they read next
Star rating is a threshold, not a score. Most diners skip listings below 4.0, and past that bar they read recency: a 4.7 with three reviews from last winter loses to a 4.4 with forty from last month. Guests are checking whether the kitchen or the ownership has changed since the last bad night.
Put a QR code on the receipt and the takeout bag, have servers ask at the table while the guest is still happy, and respond within 48 hours with a fix rather than a defence. Never trade a free dessert for a review, since the Competition Bureau treats incentivized and fake reviews as misleading representations; our review generation guide holds the scripts and incentive rules for this series. Ask guests to name the dish and the neighbourhood, because that text feeds AI review summaries.
A website that takes the order, not one that describes the restaurant
Most restaurant websites fail the same three ways: a PDF menu no assistant can read, missing prices, and an ordering button that hands the sale to a delivery app.
Publish the menu as real text with current prices and add Restaurant and Menu structured data. Independent full-service operators self-reported an average profit margin near 10.4 percent in TouchBistro's 2026 Canadian State of Restaurants Report, and the typical margin is likely thinner, so a 25 percent commission can exceed the profit on the order. Every order moved to your own online ordering system is margin you keep. Add a catering and private-events page with capacity, minimums and an enquiry form; group bookings are the highest-value leads you get, and no app intercepts them.
Local SEO: the searches that actually fill seats
Restaurant search splits into buckets, and each needs a landing place. "Restaurants near me" and "open now" are won on the profile. Cuisine plus city, such as "Italian restaurant Toronto" or "pho near me", is won on the menu page. Occasion searches carry the best margin: brunch, patio, date night, private dining, late night food and office catering, plus dietary terms such as halal and gluten free.
In the GTA, Metro Vancouver and Calgary, use the dish names Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin and Arabic-speaking guests actually type rather than literal translations. Cafes should own morning intent; food trucks need a service-area profile and a page saying where the truck parks this week. With 2026 surveys putting Canadian use of generative AI tools at close to half the population, that menu and review text now feeds AI answers. Our local SEO service is built around this stack.
Paid media when your margin is ten percent
WordStream's 2025 and 2026 North American benchmarks put the average Google Ads cost per click for restaurants near US$2.05, roughly CAD $2.80, with cost per lead around US$30, roughly CAD $41, among the lowest of any industry tracked. Most published benchmarks are in US dollars without saying so.
| What you are buying | Typical Canadian range | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads click, local terms | CAD $1.50 to $3.00 | Average about US$2.05 |
| Ad budget, single location | CAD $500 to $2,000 monthly | CAD $1,000 covers a neighbourhood |
| Local SEO and reviews retainer | CAD $800 to $2,500 monthly | Under CAD $500 is rarely real |
At a ten percent margin a CAD $41 lead must produce more than one visit, so back catering, private events and loyalty sign-ups rather than a discounted cover. Our Google Ads cost benchmarks go deeper.
Delivery apps, commission caps and the fees you still pay tax on
Treat Uber Eats, DoorDash and SkipTheDishes as search engines: photos of your top ten items, names that match how people search and accurate prep times all affect placement. Then treat the commission as a pricing decision: only one province has capped it.
British Columbia's Food Delivery Service Fee Act, in force since January 2023, is the first permanent cap in Canada: 20 percent for core delivery service plus a maximum of 5 percent in other fees (15 percent was the temporary pandemic-era cap). (Government of British Columbia) Ontario's cap under the Supporting Local Restaurants Act applied only where indoor dining was prohibited and lapsed in July 2021. Outside BC your commission is whatever you signed, so "order direct and save" is a margin strategy rather than a legal entitlement.
Under the CRA's digital economy rules in force since July 1, 2021, platform operators are generally expected to register for GST/HST and charge it on the delivery and service fees the customer pays, which is why the app total sits above your menu price. In Ontario, qualifying prepared food and beverages sold for $4.00 or less before tax have the 8 percent provincial portion of HST rebated at the till, so a coffee-and-pastry bundle held under $4 advertises cheaper than the same items rung in separately. (Canada Revenue Agency) Confirm current rules with your accountant.
The Canadian food media that fills a slow Tuesday
BlogTO, Daily Hive Dished and Narcity in English Canada and Tastet in Quebec still move volume no ad buy replicates. Pitch a dish rather than a restaurant, with a price and one good photograph, four to six weeks before the season the roundup covers.
Quebec: French menus, OQLF signage and the alcohol rules
The Charter of the French Language, as amended by Bill 96 and enforced by the Office quebecois de la langue francaise, governs menus, wine lists, signage, websites, social posts and advertising aimed at Quebec, and the OQLF's enforcement files on Montreal menu wording are well documented. French must be at least as prominent as any other language.
Two 2025 changes matter here. Since June 1, 2025, a non-French trademark on signage visible from outside the premises must be accompanied by markedly predominant French wording, and the OQLF francization registration threshold fell from 50 to 25 employees over six months, which now catches multi-unit groups. Quebec's Consumer Protection Act also requires all-in advertised pricing provincially. Our Bill 96 marketing guide covers the website and campaign side.
On alcohol, the Regie des alcools, des courses et des jeux applies Quebec's regulation on the promotion and advertising of alcoholic beverages: producers need prior approval before circulating advertising, and licensed restaurants are held to content rules that rule out linking alcohol to social success or encouraging excess.
Advertising and conduct rules for Canadian restaurants
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with a lawyer or your provincial regulator before launching a campaign.
- Alcohol promotion, by province. Ontario's AGCO allows happy hour and price advertising but sets minimum prices, about $2.00 per standard drink including taxes, and bans all-you-can-drink offers. (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) Alberta's AGLC prohibits free liquor and multi-drink specials, and ads may not show people holding liquor unless food is in front of them. British Columbia's LCRB allows price advertising but can bar a licensee where a promotion encourages excess.
- Menu labelling. Ontario's Healthy Menu Choices Act, 2015 requires chains with 20 or more Ontario locations to post calories for every standard item, including alcoholic drinks, on menus and online menus. (Government of Ontario) There is no federal equivalent and none in BC, Alberta or Quebec, so it catches franchisees and multi-unit groups rather than independents.
- Pricing. The Competition Act has expressly prohibited drip pricing since June 2022: mandatory service, platform or kitchen fees must sit inside the advertised price. (Competition Bureau Canada) The Competition Tribunal ordered Cineplex to pay $38.9 million in 2024 over an online booking fee, upheld on appeal in January 2026. (Competition Bureau Canada)
- Email and SMS. CASL governs every promotional email and text about a new menu, an event or a loyalty offer, whether the list came from a reservation platform or a QR code. Our CASL compliance guide is the canonical explanation for this series.
Patio season, party season and the January trough
Canadian foodservice does not track the retail calendar that governs online stores, which the Canadian e-commerce guide covers. The peak runs roughly April through September: patio permits open in spring, Mother's Day and Father's Day are among the busiest days of the year, and domestic tourism carries summer. December is the second peak, driven by office parties and gift cards. The trough is January through early March, which is why Winterlicious and Dine Out Vancouver sit there, while MTLaTABLE fills the pre-holiday gap in November.
Open patio campaigns in early April before the first warm weekend, sell December group bookings from mid-October with a deposit page and a per-head price, run prix-fixe offers from January to early March when a discount costs least, and push review generation hardest in July and August. Circana reported lunch as the fastest-growing daypart in 2025, so give weekday lunch its own campaign.
Cost per cover, direct order share and the first 90 days
Track five numbers monthly: profile calls, direct orders as a share of online orders, new reviews and rating, cost per order from paid media, and the size of your consented email list. At a ten percent margin, direct order share decides whether marketing is working.
| Days | Focus | What it should produce |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 30 | Profile, text menu, holiday hours, ordering link | More profile actions, weekly reviews |
| 31 to 60 | Ordering pages, catering page, reservations, schema | First direct orders and group enquiries |
| 61 to 90 | Search ads on cuisine and occasion terms, one media pitch | A measurable cost per order |
Where Better Businesses fits
Better Businesses builds this system for restaurants, cafes and food service operators across Canada, from single rooms in Montreal to multi-unit groups in Alberta. If you want to know why the restaurant three blocks away outranks you on Maps, talk to a strategist.
Sources
- The Daily — Food services and drinking places, December 2025 — Statistics Canada
- First permanent delivery-fee cap in Canada will help B.C. ring in new year — Government of British Columbia
- Harmonized Sales Tax for Ontario - Point-of-Sale Rebate on Prepared Food and Beverages — Canada Revenue Agency
- Calories on menus: information for businesses | ontario.ca — Government of Ontario
- Statement from the Acting Commissioner of Competition on appeal court's ruling in Cineplex deceptive marketing — Competition Bureau Canada
- Competition Bureau wins deceptive marketing case against Cineplex — Competition Bureau Canada
- Pricing and Promotion of Liquor | Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario — Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario
Sources checked September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- What share of sales should a Canadian restaurant put into marketing at a ten percent margin?
- Established rooms typically run 3 to 6 percent of sales and new locations 5 to 10 percent on North American benchmarks, with digital taking most of it. At a ten percent margin that money comes out of the same dollar as profit, so a $1.2 million room at 4 percent has roughly CAD $4,000 a month for ads, local SEO and reviews. Judge it on covers and direct orders.
- Do I have to be on Uber Eats, DoorDash and SkipTheDishes?
- Not necessarily, but roughly 27 percent of Canadians order through delivery apps more than once a month, so they work as a discovery channel. Commission runs 15 to 30 percent, and only British Columbia caps it, at 15 percent for core delivery plus up to 5 percent in other fees. Most operators list for the reach, then move repeat guests to direct ordering.
- Can Canadian restaurants advertise happy hour?
- In Ontario, yes. The AGCO permits happy hour and price advertising, but minimum prices apply, about $2.00 per standard drink before HST, and all-you-can-drink offers are banned. Alberta's AGLC prohibits multi-drink specials entirely, Quebec's RACJ restricts advertising content and requires producers to pre-clear ads, and British Columbia can bar price advertising that encourages excess. Check your provincial regulator before promoting drink pricing.
- Are French menus and signage mandatory for a restaurant in Quebec?
- Treat French as the default. The Charter of the French Language, enforced by the OQLF, reaches menus, wine lists, signage, websites and advertising aimed at Quebec, and French must be at least as prominent as any other language. Since June 1, 2025, a non-French trademark on signage visible from outside needs markedly predominant French beside it. Confirm your own situation with counsel.
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