Feasting on taffy on snow and ears of crisse will cost more this spring, as the traditional meal at the sugar shack sees its price rise sharply due to rising food prices and labor shortages. ‘artwork.
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“The sugar shacks still have the calculator in hand to find the right way to open,” says Stéphanie Laurin, president of the Association of reception halls and sugar bushes of Quebec.
According to her, the increase in the price of the plate will be at least 20%, compared to the 2020 season, which had been shortened by the arrival of the pandemic.
At the Vergers Hillspring sugar shack in Havelock, Montérégie, for example, an adult meal has gone from $22 in 2020 to $30 this year.
The Osias sugar shack, in Saint-Alexis in Lanaudière, has increased its prices by 12%. An adult will have to shell out $38 this year for a weekend brunch.
“Given the increase, perhaps not all families can afford to eat indoors,” says its owner, Catherine Mailhot, sadly.
The sugar bush has therefore decided to offer this year a less expensive package including pea soup, maple taffy and access to its outdoor facilities.
All more expensive ingredients
This increase in the price of the plate is partly explained by the explosion in the cost of several foods.
“All the ingredients used in a sugar shack meal have suffered from food inflation,” says Maurice Doyon, professor of agri-food economics at Laval University.
“Sausage, ham, anything pork has increased by up to 35% [depuis 2020]. This is the major cost of our dish,” says Lyne McKenzie, owner of Vergers Hillspring. “We started in September to make our marinades, our meatballs, our meat pies. Food prices keep rising: oil, flour, eggs, everything,” comments Mélanie Charbonneau, owner of Érablière Charbonneau, in Mont-Saint-Grégoire.
“It’s a meal that has a lot of meat, a lot of very expensive and very long food to prepare,” she continues.
Recruitment is a struggle
As the sugar season is quite short, it is difficult for sugar bushes to recruit labour. They must therefore compete to fill all their positions.
“We still haven’t found a new assistant cook, because people are going to the highest bidder,” laments Mélissa Bélanger, from the sugar shack in the middle of the fields, in Mirabel.
“Even if we will have the right to open at full capacity, we have reduced a room because we do not have enough employees,” she says.
