2023 is already zooming by and thank goodness those warm, sunny days are not far off the horizon. Summertime in Toronto is always a time to celebrate; bar and restaurant patios are packed full of customers, eating, drinking and absorbing the sunshine and atmosphere. The city also hosts some fabulous food festivals during the summer months to further tickle the tastebuds of both residents and tourists. One much loved by all is Summerlicious, which offers exciting and affordable dining experiences, and it’s coming back in 2023!
Summerlicious is a 2 week event that benefits both customers and restaurant owners; customers get to experience exciting, dining at affordable prices, and restaurant owners get the chance to showcase their culinary skills, boost sales, and hopefully grow their customer loyalty base. Summerlicious 2023 proactively seeks to help the post pandemic recovery of Toronto’s restaurants whilst at the same time encouraging customers to get back out there and engage in in-house restaurant dining. Naturally, Summerlicious always provides an opportunity to celebrate Toronto’s incredibly diverse culinary scene.
Last year, over 200 restaurants citywide were involved in this popular event which ran between mid to late August. If your restaurant is thinking of getting involved in Summerlicious this year, in brief, this is what will be required of you…
Summerlicious is scheduled to serve us up culinary delights between Friday 7th to Sunday 23rd July this year. The programme has been slightly modified this year to make it much easier for all restaurants of all sizes to apply. To qualify as a participant in 2023, your restaurant already needs to be located in the city of Toronto, be up and running and offering a full service. Other stipulations include having a current Toronto Public Health Green DineSafe pass, as well as having the necessary Municipal licenses to operate as an eating place.
As a participating restaurant in Summerlicious 2023 you’ll be required to operate within strict prix fixe menu guidelines. A summary of these include…
- Offering a 3-course prix fixe menu (or menus) for in-house or patio dining for lunch and/or dinner, during your regular business hours
- Having a prix fixe menu (or menus) with at least three options of appetizer, main dish and dessert.
- Pricing your prix fixe menu (or menus) within the program’s range of price point categories.
The prix fixe price point categories have been expanded for Summerlicious 2023, which will allow a broader range restaurants to become involved, and which of course will appeal to diners of all budgets. Prix fixe menus start from $20 for lunch, or $25 for dinner, and go up to $55 for lunch or $75 for dinner. There are 6 prix fixe pricing levels in total; these price points do not include drinks, taxes or gratuities.
If you’re still interested in becoming a Summerlicious 2023 participant then it’s time to take a closer look at what will be required of you for this year’s program, the prix fixe menu details, and the application process by visiting the official Summerlicious 2023 page on the City of Toronto’s website. The web page will provide you with all the information you need, and also provides a link for you to submit a simplified online application form. Please do keep in mind that you will also have to pay an application fee of $550 plus HST; if it’s any consolation, this has been reduced to less than half the fee required from previous applicants in 2022 (which was $1300 plus HST!)
CHI is dedicated to keeping up with local and national trends in the Restaurant Industry to help serve our customers better and keep them one step ahead. If you are interested in opening, purchasing, or selling a restaurant CHI Real Estate can help. Get in touch with our team today.