City spends $164,000 to boost restaurants affected by King streetcar pilot

TheStar.com
May 30, 2018
Ben Spurr

The city spent more than $160,000 on a two-week promotion to boost sales at restaurants affected by the King St. streetcar pilot project, according to figures released Wednesday.

A news release issued by the city said the “Food is King” promotion, which was launched in partnership with the Ritual takeout-ordering app, led to “significant sales increases and new customers” at business near the contentious pilot project.

“The King Street Transit Pilot project has introduced improved transit service on one of our busiest routes with minimum impact on drivers,” said Mayor John Tory in a statement.

“With the Food is King Ritual partnership, we have also made sure that the King Street pilot is driving business and new customers to our local establishments.”

The pilot, which was originally budgeted at $1.5 million, was designed to give priority to streetcar operations on the busy downtown street between Jarvis and Bathurst Sts. When it was installed in November the city removed on-street parking on King and imposed new traffic rules that compel drivers to turn off the street at most major intersections.

Although by some measures the project has significantly improved streetcar service, some restaurant owners have said it has driven away business. To help establishments that say they’re hurting, the city has launched a number of initiatives, including public realm improvements designed to draw more people to King.

Through the Food Is King promotion, the city helped subsidize a $15 credit to eligible users of the Ritual food-ordering app for purchases at 52 restaurants on or near King in the pilot area. The program ran from Feb. 20 to March 4.

The city spent $164,470 on the promotion, while Ritual made an additional $100,000 investment, according to the city.

Figures collected through the app indicate that the promotion led to 27,288 additional orders placed at the restaurants through Ritual compared to the weekly average three weeks before the promotion. That corresponded with a $426,005 increase in sales through the app during the same period.

Restaurants experienced “a sustained sales increase” into April, according to the city’s news release, and Ritual attracted 6,995 new customers to its platform.

Business owners in other parts of the city like portions of Eglinton Ave. West disrupted by the construction of a new LRT line have complained about the city’s initiatives to help King establishments, claiming the downtown district is receiving preferential treatment.

In April, the city announced measures to help businesses on Eglinton, including parking discounts, but didn’t offer to subsidize purchases at local businesses.

In response to question about why using taxpayer money to subsidize private restaurants on King is in the public interest, Don Peat, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Tory and the local councillor had met with business owners in the area, who “made it clear that this was the type of promotion the city should be introducing.”

Peat added that one of the stated goals of the pilot is to support economic activity on King, and said the mayor “is committed to helping businesses succeed on King St. and across the city.”

Ian Sorbie, the president of Il Fornello Restaurants, said the city’s efforts to help King establishments haven’t softened his objections to how the pilot project has been implemented.

Sorbie, whose restaurant didn’t participate in the Ritual promotion, said business at his King St. location is actually up, but he attributed that to extremely popular shows like Come From Away playing at the nearby Royal Alexandra Theatre.

“We’re in champagne country right now, because we’re doing great because of the shows … But when it’s plonk season because there’s no shows going on … it’s going to be very, very difficult down here” because of the pilot, Sorbie predicted.

He reiterated calls for the city to lift the pilot project rules to allow through-traffic outside of rush hour and during weekends.

According to the latest figures published by the city, the pilot has increased reliability of streetcar service, with 85 per cent of westbound vehicles arriving within four minutes of the previous car during morning rush hour, compared to 77 per cent before the pilot project.

Average trip times in the pilot area have decreased during most times, with the largest reduction, of 2.7 minutes, coming during the afternoon peak period.

King is the TTC’s busiest surface route, and carries roughly 84,000 passengers a day.