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This summer, Saskatoon restaurants will get a break with a local food festival on hiatus for the year.
But the move to postpone Taste of Saskatchewan in 2023 has surprised restaurant owners in the city.
Mitch Lupichuk, founder and owner of the Capitol Music Club, is disappointed to see the festival won’t be offered this year.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “I think it was a really cool event during a really quiet time of the summer for most restaurants.”
He said that goes double for restaurants without a patio in the summer, offering a chance for customers to enjoy their food while taking in the summer temperatures.
The festival wasn’t a total walk in the park, though. Lupichuk said not having to prepare for it will offer a “bit of a stress relief” for his business this summer.
Work for Taste of Saskatchewan each year includes prepping for thousands and thousands of people weeks in advance, making up-front food orders, renting and moving equipment, and updating fire extinguisher training and managing staffing.
“It’s like having two restaurants open,” Lupichuk said, noting restaurant staff have to be at both locations.
It’s an investment because the payoff is usually big — barring a year where a plow wind tears across the park, Lupichuk recalled — with the restaurant about doubling its food sales for the month over the course of the three-day festival.
Having the chance to redirect customers at the event back to the brick-and-mortar business is an opportunity, too, for future business.
Lupichuk said it’s nice to get a cheque at the end, meet a lot of people and spread his business name around. He said his staff also enjoys the chance to hang out and listen to music all day, outside in the warm weather instead of serving in the bar.
“I can’t understand why it would ever be cancelled,” Lupichuk said, noting the high attendance numbers Taste of Saskatchewan usually records, with people from beyond Saskatoon visiting to take in local event.
Lupichuk hopes to see Taste of Saskatchewan return in 2024.