2023-06-23 22:10:00
The thousands of Quebecers who will be taking the road for vacation this summer are a veritable gold mine for restaurants located everywhere along Highway 20.
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And the traders do not hide it: the national holiday is the kick-off of the most lucrative period of the year for these private meal stops.
This is obviously the case for franchisees at Madrid 2.0, the rest area located in Saint-Léonard-d’Aston, famous for its giant dinosaurs.
“Summer in general, it’s really a big time, that’s where we put our strengths […] We are expecting a very big weekend with Saint-Jean,” says Mahyka Camirand, spokesperson for the local St-Hubert Express restaurant.
Ms. Camirand, who is also director of the St-Hubert in Drummondville and future co-franchisee of the family business, notes an increase of about 15% in sales during the summer period.
She also notices that the good weather and especially the holidays bring a different dynamic.
“When people are in vacation mode, you feel it immediately, people stop more regularly to eat,” she says.
Expected period in Sainte-Julie
The first weekend of summer was also expected by merchants near Highway 20 in Sainte-Julie.
Viji Gnanarajah, owner of the Scores restaurant, also estimates a 15% increase in traffic from June 23.
“Here, we don’t have accommodation in the city, so we live off tourists and motorists driving on the highway and stopping to eat,” the lady mentioned.
She persists in repeating that traders in the sector “would like to have hotels around” to increase the retention rate of visitors.
The businesswoman also recalls that with the return of American tourists who were prevented from entering Quebec again last year due to the pandemic, her clientele should double this summer.
“We expect 50% more traffic than last summer,” she predicts.
Located near Highway 20, the St-Hubert restaurant in Rivière-du-Loup is one of the busiest in the province during the summer season. Photo Louis Deschenes
In Eastern Quebec too
All it takes is a stop in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli to see that the holiday season has begun and that restaurants and gas stations will take advantage of it. During our visit, the parking lots of the McDonald’s, Tim Hortons, Subway and Normandin restaurants were overflowing.
And this traffic is noticeable as far as Rivière-du-Loup, a city qualified as a crossroads since people who want to go to Gaspésie or New Brunswick must go through Rivière-du-Loup.
Moreover, the proximity of the St-Hubert restaurant to Highway 20 makes it one of the busiest in the province during the summer period.
Facts which are confirmed by the owner Charles Pomerleau who also owns a St-Hubert Express in Montmagny.
And guess what? When it came time to open this new restaurant in Montmagny with his partner Martin Pagé, Mr. Pomerleau also chose a location near Highway 20.
In numbers
Before the pandemic, the number of cars passing daily on Highway 20 near Drummondville was estimated at more than 45,000.
In the Bas-Saint-Laurent, daily traffic is much lower, with approximately 10,000 vehicles per day counted.
Still according to pre-pandemic statistics, around 1.2 million people stop at Madrid 2.0 in a year.
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