80% of Canadian Restaurants Raised Prices This Year — and 60% Aren't Done

Eight in 10 Canadian restaurant owners raised menu prices in the past year, and six in 10 plan another increase within 12 months. That's the headline finding from the Hospitality Operator Report 2026 by EconoLease, a commercial kitchen equipment financing company — and the numbers behind it explain why the hikes aren't a cash grab.

Operators are passing costs up the chain because their own bills keep climbing. Food and beverage leads the list of fastest-rising expenses at 64% of operators, followed by labour at 55% and rent at 32%. Over the past year, 40% of operators estimate total costs rose 5% to 10%, while another 38% put the increase at 11% to 20%.

The pricing isn't uniform across the country, either. Western Canadian operators were more likely to have already raised prices, while Ontario operators are more likely to be planning increases over the next 12 months.

Why price hikes aren't fixing Canadian margins

Here's the mechanism that matters. Canadian operators raised prices more often than their U.S. counterparts — 80% versus 68% — yet the increases aren't keeping pace with costs.

Fewer than half of Canadian operators saw margins improve, just 42%, compared with 64% of U.S. operators. Going the other direction, 27% of Canadian operators reported shrinking margins, versus 16% in the U.S. Most of the margin gains on either side of the border were slight.

Put plainly: Canadian operators are raising prices more aggressively and still falling further behind. When input costs run 11% to 20% and menu increases land in low single digits, the gap lands on the operator's bottom line.

Are restaurants outpacing groceries?

Yes, and the gap is measurable. Statistics Canada, the federal statistics agency, reports restaurant food prices rose 3.1% year over year in September, against grocery inflation of 1.7%. That's a 1.4-point spread — meaning the relative cost of eating out versus cooking at home keeps widening.

For operators, that spread is a demand risk: every point of divergence makes the home-cooked substitute cheaper. For consumers, it reframes the practical question — not whether to dine out, but how to extract more value from each visit.

What does this change for the average diner?

Mainly, expectations. With 60% of Canadian operators planning further increases within a year, sticker shock at the table is likely to persist into 2026. The regions will move at different speeds: the West has largely repriced already, while Ontario's increases are still ahead.

For operators, the EconoLease data points to a harder road than their U.S. peers face — more pricing action, thinner payoff. Expect the next 12 months to test whether Canadian restaurants can close the gap between cost inflation running at up to 20% and menu prices rising closer to 3%.