Toronto says 2024 CaféTO patio program had more restaurants enrolled than ever before | CBC News

As outdoor dining winds down for the season, Toronto’s mayor says the city’s CaféTO program has had its most successful year to date.

Last year, businesses complained the application process was too slow and they were unable to set up patios until well into summer, losing them revenue.

“Last summer when I arrived at city hall, CaféTO wasn’t working,” Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters Friday, standing beside a patio in Toronto’s Greektown to announce the end of the season.

“Well, we fixed it,” she said.

This year, the city streamlined applications and added more staff to process them. By Victoria Day weekend, 95 per cent of CaféTO patios were in place, exceeding the city’s goal of 90 per cent by that date, city staff said in a release.

Tony Pethakas, who chairs Greektown’s Business Improvement Area, told reporters the restaurant he manages in the neighbourhood was able to open its patio weeks earlier than last year. 

“That extra revenue stream is huge,” Pethakas said, thanking the city for improving the CaféTO licensing process this year. “It was minutes rather than collecting documentation and going back to the beginning.” 

The patios in Greektown have also made the neighbourhood more vibrant, Pethakas said, and have contributed to other businesses by increasing foot traffic.

“This is a program that’s keeping business alive,” he said. “Small business is still not recovered from three years of pandemic and difficulties.”

The city didn’t have figures for the last two years, but in 2022 the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas found CaféTO added $203 million to Toronto’s economy.

Earlier this year, Restaurants Canada reported more than half of Canadian restaurants were operating at a loss, compared to 10 per cent last year.

Mayor says program expected to keep growing

The program started in 2020 as a temporary way to help restaurants stay open through COVID-19 restrictions by allowing them to expand outside, taking over curbs and parking spaces with patio space. Following positive feedback from restaurants and the public, the program became permanent last year.

As the program continues to grow, fees to enrol and renew are slated to double next year. In 2023, the annual permit was $14.56 per square metre for sidewalk patios and $43.70 per square metre for curb lane patios, while application fees were $285.

It will be the last of three phased increases that started last year.

Chow said those increases will help expand the program to more businesses next year and says she doesn’t expect fees to deter enrolment. She said restaurants should recoup fees quickly through added space. She said the city also offers grants of up to $7,500 to restaurants, through federal funding, to improve patios and outdoor infrastructure.

The city is also expanding the program to allow restaurants that face commercial parking lots to set up their own temporary cafés, Chow said, which she expects will grow the program in the city’s suburbs.

Asked whether CaféTO added to congestion in the city, Chow said the city hadn’t studied it, but almost no patios in the program impact traffic, with most occupying parking spaces or sidewalks. 

“Whether (congestion) is worse or not worse … the economic benefits and that feeling of belonging in a neighbourhood is priceless,” she said.

The city began dismantling CaféTO patios this week and is expected to finish all removals by Oct. 15.