There are two main sectors within the catering industry; contract caterers and social event, or banquet caterers. The contract catering market is dominated by large national firms and chain operations, like Marriott Corporation, which manage and operate foodservice facilities such as cafeterias and camps on a contract basis. Institutions, industry and businesses comprise the main markets for contract caterers and many operations focus on serving a specific market's foodservice needs.

Industrial contract caterers specialize in providing foodservice to workers at industrial sites such as mines and oil rigs and also provide foodservice at remote sites such as tree planting locations. Business caterers focus on operating full-scale cafeterias as well as vending and mobile carts that provide foodservice to employees of a variety of businesses. Institutional caterers serve Canada's large number of hospitals and nursing homes, universities and colleges, public school and prison facilities.

A comprehensive survey of foodservice operations across the country shows a brisk demand for catering. Operators of every stripe are finding ways to exploit the trend, seeing their talented staffs and idle kitchens as sources of untapped potential. Even the most unlikely players are getting into the act. Managers of institutional feeders such as schools, hospitals, and corporate dining halls have stepped outside their traditional roles and into the world of catering.

The growing market for catered events has fueled an effort to use all available capacity. We're not just talking about weddings and bar mitzvahs. Business events now dominate the market for catering.

Catered events are increasingly taking place within walking distance from the caterer's kitchen -- on premises. This surveys also shows that catering jobs come in all sizes, and most of them are relatively intimate.

So you might ask yourself: why am I not catering? Or, if you are catering to groups in your dining room or loading a truck with trays every weekend, how can you do it better?

Frequency. Catering is a volume business. Social caterers and hoteliers typically cater at least one event every day, usually more. They have a voracious appetite for bookings and the capability of handling up to 100 functions a month.

As worn out as operators of fine dining restaurants might be, more than one-third cater in excess of 13 functions per month. Most of these take place in their restaurants.

Among the non-commercial operators, hospitals, colleges, and contract employee feeders wrack up the catering jobs. They serve patients, students and employees. And, they cater events, usually for fewer than 50 people, on their premises. These kitchens are running a type of room service with small groups eating and meeting in rooms throughout the facility.

The survey also shows sharp differences in the aggressiveness of kitchens run by contract operators over those managed by the institutions themselves. Most contractors tackled more than 13 events per month; whereas, almost 60% of the self-run operations settled for less.

Who works the jobs? Entering the catering business to offer staff more hours will probably work. Restaurants and hotels rely on existing wait-staff for catering jobs, often reinforcing them with casual hires, including family members. Social caterers show an especially high tendency to tap family, since their work force must ebb and flow in response to bookings.

Busiest seasons: "If you're not prepared to take a hit in January and February and think this is a flat-line business, then you shouldn't be in this business," says Shelly Pedersen, a longtime caterer and President of the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE). But, catering's seasonality makes sense. Family restaurants, with their casual fare, see catering opportunities rise with summer temperatures. Schools respond to busy classrooms and academic activities in spring and fall. Most other catering operations post their best receipts in winter -- largely due to intensive holiday catering. Balancing Pedersen's warning against the fat winter numbers, one can fully appreciate the frenzied holiday party season.

Business vs. social: Hidden in the unremarkable splits between the business and the social markets is a surprising strength among family restaurants in catering business functions. They report that more than 71 per cent of their catering dollars come from business and corporate clients.

Businesses and corporations obviously keep the catering phenomenon alive. Even schools (66 percent of them) cater business events. In fact, there are more schools handling corporate events than handling community meetings, according to the survey.

Social caterers most often answer the call for ethnic theme parties. According to Kramer, the rise in international corporate affiliations has opened the field for ethnic themes. If a firm opens a new branch in China, for instance, get ready for dragons and fireworks. She also points out the care with which ethnic themes must be executed. "Corporations have to be in tune with their audience. Once you've done enough research, you can create a theme with wonderful ambiance. Anytime you can theme an event and be socially, politically, and morally correct, you've got a hit.

On-premises vs. off: Family restaurants serve more catered meals outside than inside. And even fine dining restaurants attribute 41% of their catering sales to off-premises events.

Social caterers rely on attractive facilities and settings for their parties. With demand rising, good rooms are scarce. Therein lies an opportunity that restaurants are seizing with banquet rooms and off-night functions. Besides, off-premise catering often presents unseen dangers. "The science of the food is different," says Shelly Pedersen. "As are the equipment needs and the demands on the staff."

Average size group: The flexibility and experience of social caterers seems to allow them to handle large crowds. Volume can widen profit margins and social caterers, who fight for budget against rent and liquor costs, often make their money head by head. On the whole, gatherings of 100 or less dominate the catering service.

Table service vs. buffet: The popularity of buffets continues with one notable exception. Within these figures, resorts and hotels report serving half their catered meals at table. Family restaurants boost buffet scores among commercial operators, since they offer table service at less than ten per cent of the events they handle. Even among fine dining restaurants, however, buffets remain more popular than table service.

Ginger Kramer sees the popularity of buffets continuing and increasing along with the demand for theme parties. "Themes are hot", she says. "And it's much easier to attach a theme to a buffet than to a single plate." She also points to the greater variety available at a buffet and its effect on social dynamics. Buffets allow party-goers to mingle throughout the room. Table service confines them to one table.

Where's the money? Commercial operations vary in their commitment to catering; social caterers live by it; and non commercials seem to take care of their own people. These variations make direct analysis of profit margins hard to ascertain. But one conclusion is obvious: with 50 per cent of the commercial operators, 78 per cent of social caterers, and a 25 per cent of non-commercial operators making more than $10,000 per year, catering is alive and growing.

The future: Results show that respondents see healthy growth in every market for catering. The highest numbers in each category reflect the strength of each type of caterer. Non-commercials see potential in on-premises events, as do commercial caterers. Ginger Kramer agrees. "There simply aren't enough banquet facilities and special event sites," she says. The survey confirms Kramer's assertion that caterers who do both on and off-premises events will achieve the greatest business success.

Tourism industry

At the federal level tourism is the responsibility of the minister of state for small business and tourism through Tourism Canada in the Department of Regional Industrial Expansion. The promotion and development of tourism through a designated federal agency dates from 1934. The recognized national industry association is the Ottawa-based Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC). It is an umbrella organization representing private sector companies, organizations, institutions and individuals engaged in tourism in Canada and working in partnership with provincial and territorial tourism-industry associations. TIAC has represented the Canadian tourism industry for 69 years and exists to lobby government, to communicate with industry, and to increase public awareness of the importance of tourism and the need for public support.

Tourism dates back to the early history of Canada. Writings by the early explorers and traders contributed to the growing knowledge of the Canadian landscape, still the primary attraction of Canada's tourism industry (see EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL LITERATURE). From the mid-18th to the early 19th century TOPOGRAPHIC PAINTERS recorded an idealized landscape, scenes that were often reproduced as engravings in travel books published in Europe. The CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, through its rail and steamship services, its hotels and publicity campaigns, attracted affluent European and American tourists to Canada. Modern travel and the opportunity for mass travel came with the jet airplane. Business travel illustrates the degree of change: travel and related expenses are the third-largest expenditure of Canadian business, after payroll and data-processing expenditures. Canadian companies spent $3 billion in 1986.

The Canadian tourism industry requires sophisticated marketing, delivering value and service. Beginning in 1984 Canada experienced a turnaround following 10 years of decline during which its balance of payments deficit on the international travel account grew from $300 million to $2.2 billion. Nineteen eighty-six was an exceptional year: foreign visitors increased 18%. The primary reasons for this growth were EXPO 86 in Vancouver, a favourable exchange rate with the US, an aggressive federal government advertising campaign in the US and negative incidents in other parts of the world which discouraged N Americans from travelling overseas. The best potential new source for travellers to Canada is likely in the Pacific Rim countries. Arrivals from Japan and Hong Kong are expected to show an increase, continuing an upward trend that started in 1979. Australia remains stable. The US continues to be Canada's primary source of visitors; they comprise over 85% of our tourism market. Traditional European markets, including the UK, France, W Germany and the Netherlands, are expected to produce moderate growth over the next few years.

Contemporary Canadian tourist attractions are often the same as those extolled by early travel writers - the fjorded coast of BC, the majestic grandeur of the Canadian Rockies, the wide open spaces of the Prairies, the lakes, forests and rivers of central Canada, the Atlantic coast in its infinite variety of bays, coves, beaches and scenic vistas, the arctic environment and people, and, of course, such old favourites as NIAGARA FALLS. The works of humans have been added to these natural assets through the development of modern and sophisticated cities, and through galleries and museums, performing arts, historic sites, FESTIVALS, and events such as Expo 86, the CALGARY STAMPEDE and winter OLYMPIC GAMES. To most of the world Canada is known as a tourist destination through its scenery, space and environment.

During the review period, the travel and tourism industry was under constant pressure beginning in 2001 with the terrorist attacks. In 2003, the industry was tainted by the war in Iraq, which caused uneasiness about travel, the SARS outbreak in Toronto and a sluggish US economy. SARS was contained within two months of the outbreak, despite a second unexpected resurgence, but the damage brought on by a WHO travel advisory was done. The impact of these events was greatest on international tourism, followed by US visitors to Canada, but was not expected to significantly influence Canadians' decisions to travel.

Domestic tourism, which accounted for the bulk of the Canadian tourism industry, remained firm during the review period, with continuing popularity particularly among the older generation, highlighting the desire to stay close to home, which resulted from security and economic concerns. However, more cautious spending patterns emerged towards the end of the review period, per capita expenditure for domestic trip fell by 6% since 2000, but a drop of less than 1% over the review period as a whole. Overall, the WTO ranked Canada as ninth in the world's top 15 destinations for travel, capturing 2. 8% of the total international travel market at its last ranking, in 2001. Demographic trends remained largely intact. Greying populations worldwide, including Canada, will mean demand for structured tourism products such as pre-packaged and all-inclusive tours and cruises and quality accommodations.

Women are also increasingly becoming a larger proportion of Canadian travellers. The accommodation market suffered towards the end of the review period. Hardest hit was Toronto, suffering losses of C$5million per day in April, as many major conventions cancelled their reservations due to SARS. Accommodations across Ontario also reported losses, but not nearly as significant as those in Toronto. Through the review period, accommodation revenue increased by 9. 7%. Hotels struggled to keep up occupancy levels and in 2003 there were tremendous value deals available in hotels. In such a competitive environment, alternative, no-frills accommodation benefited, such as hostels and guesthouses. Consumers were also more likely to stay with international brand names, such as Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Merger and acquisition activity dropped off significantly in almost all areas of the travel and tourism industry.

The tone in the industry as a whole was, at best, to maintain market share and revenue with strong efforts made to avoid losing ground because of the tough economic environment. There were no significant mergers and acquisitions in 2003, although as the economy improves, through 2004 and 2005 the levels of activity may turn around.

Canada's travel deficit, pushed down to its lowest level in more than 10 years, is benefiting from an influx of American tourism dollars.

The deficit declined by 42.1 per cent to $1.4 billion in the first nine months of 1998, down from $2.4 billion during the same period in 1997.

Foreign spending, up 11.2 per cent from the same period last year and valued at $11.1 billion, largely accounts for this decrease. Meanwhile Canadian tourism spending abroad also rose 0.7 per cent to $12.5 billion.

"The record number of Americans visiting Canada combined with fewer Canadians vacationing in the U.S. has resulted in a huge shift in the international travel account," explained Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) chairman Judd Buchanan. "This has buffered the impact of the drop in visits and spending by tourists from many of our primary overseas markets, particularly Japan, France and Germany."

What key factors are responsible for this boom in Canada's tourism industry?

"Canadians are doing more internal travel because of the low value of our dollar, but that's not the motivating factor for Americans," explains John Olsthoorn, a spokesman for the Canadian Tourism Commission. "The economic situation in the U.S. is positive, with low unemployment and high consumer confidence, which means that people have more discretionary funds."

Olsthoorn notes that Canada also offers Americans what they want: safe cities, the great outdoors, and friendly people. Another key factor is the Open Skies Agreement, which has opened more Canadian airports to direct flights from the U.S. This gives Americans more choices about flying into Canada.

"Americans can afford to travel more and they are choosing Canada in record numbers because it offers them what they want to see and do," added Christena Keon Sirsly, chair of CTC's U.S. leisure marketing committee and vice-president of marketing at VIA Rail Canada Inc. "Once in Canada, many of them realize their U.S. dollar goes further and they end up spending more."

This is clear when you look at the changes to Canada's travel deficit with the U.S. Total tourism receipts from the U.S. jumped 23.7 per cent, while Canadian tourism spending in the U.S. fell 3.2 per cent. The overall result is that Canada's travel deficit with the U.S. plunged 67.1 per cent to $788 million.

In contrast, overseas tourism receipts fell $230 million, while Canadians' overseas spending rose $347 million, increasing Canada's travel deficit with the rest of the world by $578 million during the first nine months of 1998.

Marketing is the final factor in the boom in Canada's tourism industry. In addition to vigorously marketing Canada to potential tourists from the U.S. and overseas, CTC has forged partnerships with Statistics Canada (which produces the International Travel Account), the provinces and territories, private industry and universities helping to make Canada the world leader in tourism-economic research.

There are some facts about domestic tourism.

Domestic Tourism Demand, Third Quarter 2003 

· Domestic demand steady while foreign expenditures down

· Domestic expenditures reached $11.4 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2003, an increase of 3.2% over the previous year, which represents the sixth consecutive year-over-year gain..

· Foreign spending in the third quarter 2003 decreased 10% to $6.3 billion compared to the same quarter in 2002. This is the third consecutive quarterly decline in foreign spending.

· Spending at home remained weak while Canadians increased touring abroad, thus the share of domestic spending was reduced to 64%.

· In comparison to the second quarter 2003, seasonally adjusted third quarter 2003 domestic spending was up 4.1% and foreign spending was up 3.3% (seasonally adjusted).

· The year-over-year data contrasts the quarter-to-quarter, the first being attributed to continued decreases in spending by international visitors.

Conclusion

Canada is the largest country in land size in the western hemisphere with a population of only 29 million people. Its form of government can be characterized as a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. It comprises of 10 provinces and 3 territories, with Toronto; Montreal and Vancouver being the largest cities. Canada is a young and dynamic country where immigration is the foundation for economic growth and which brings people, customs and traditions, rituals and culture to the forefront of current Government policy.

Canada is a very large country geographically with a widely dispersed population. The economy still relies heavily on primary resources, which requires that goods be transported from one end of the country to the other. Subsequently, reliable and efficient modes of transportation are quite important in Canada, probably more so than in some other countries.

Caterers are primarily engaged in serving meals by mobile canteens or on private premises including halls, schools, factories, hospitals, offices and camps. Except for small single functions, catering is normally done on an annual contract basis.

This section has been developed to indicate how certain companies redefine their workplace, position themselves to take competitive advantage of emerging niches and adapt to ever increasing public and private sector flows of information and education. It indicates both positive and negative responses to the marketplace.

Illegal basement caterers have driven some Edmonton operators to form a professional society in an effort to clean up the industry.

The Catering Professionals Association of Alberta is recruiting new members to add to the 19 companies already in the group. "When you think about it, you can put some food out without a whole lot of overhead or expertise," says Todd Rutter, owner of A Cappella Catering and head of the new organization. "But the problem is to do it properly, to do it legally and, therefore, safely, it requires much more than that."

About 200 caterers are listed in the Edmonton Yellow Pages. An undetermined number operate without licenses or health permits, said Steven Probert, a public health inspector. "The guys who go legal spend a lot of money only to be driven under financially by these illegal operations."

To operate legally caterers must have a valid business license, a health permit and liability insurance. They're obliged to make payments to Revenue Canada and workers' compensation. They must also meet building code standards with proper heating and ventilation systems -- all of which cost money.

Rick Dimock, the city's food program co-ordinator responsible for inspections, said inspectors are always watching out for people who operate illegally. "We know it happens, but the only way we find out about it is if we get a complaint from someone or we run into it."

The city implemented a new system last October whereby inspectors make three visits a year to each of the larger companies. The new catering association hopes that setting rigid membership requirements and encouraging as large a membership as possible will stop people from getting away with breaking the law.

Accommodations in Canada -- the place to visit for bed and breakfasts, lodging, hotels, motels, resorts, inns and attractions across Canada who offer their guests a friendly mix of modern comfort, old world charm and warm hospitality.

Visitors from outside Canada make tourism Canada's fifth-largest earner of foreign exchange after motor vehicles, auto parts, crude petroleum and newsprint. The bulk of Canada's tourism comes from Canadians travelling in and exploring their own country. On the international travel account, Canada has a falling share of the international market and a $1.2-billion deficit: Canadians spent $7.5 billion outside Canada. Catering to tourists in Canada involves many large companies and about 100 000 small and medium-sized businesses, including almost 300 000 hotel and motel rooms, more than 45 000 eating places and 4000 travel agencies. These businesses serve over 34 million visitors a year. Every 100 000 visitors to a community can mean $9 million in revenue throughout the local economy.

Literature

1. Restaurant Hospitality and Food Management, Supplement, Fall, 2007.

2. http://canada.gc.ca

3. Christine Lindop. Canada. Oxford University Press. 2001.

4. Canadian Press Newswire, March 6, 2005.