Reuters — Cara Operations, owner of the Swiss Chalet casual dining chain and Harvey’s burger outlets, said Thursday it will buy St-Hubert BBQ, one of Quebec’s largest casual dining chains, for $537 million to gain a foothold in the province. The deal, expected to close this summer pending regulatory approvals, was cheered by analysts and investors. […] Read more

Cara to buy St-Hubert restaurant, food businesses
Mexico clears Canadian poultry meat for import
Duck and other poultry from Canada may again be exported to Mexico, for the first time since 2004. Canada’s Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland on Thursday announced Mexico had reopened its border to fresh poultry meat including chicken, turkey and, “most significant in terms of historical trade,” duck. Mexico had […] Read more

Major grocers pledge cage-free eggs by 2025
The grocery arm of the body for Canadian retailers has rolled out a 10-year plan to source the eggs its members sell from layer hens raised in “cage-free environments.” The grocer members of the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), which include Loblaw, Sobeys/Safeway, Metro and Wal-Mart Canada, said Friday they are “voluntarily committing to the […] Read more

Camelina soon to be a poultry feed option
Camelina 'cake' could be a new, attractive poultry feed
Reading Time: 2 minutes Camelina is one step closer to being a feed source for livestock species. “Camelina is not a perfect feedstuff, but it does have some advantages that could be an opportunity for layers, broilers and eventually turkeys,” provincial research scientist Eduardo Beltranena said at the recent Western Poultry Conference. The oilseed is a member of the […] Read more

A+W ups ante on layer hen housing
Having already pledged to source eggs from hens in enriched housing and raised without use of antibiotics, burger chain A+W now plans to get all its eggs from hens in open housing. The Vancouver-based income fund said Wednesday that despite having “no open-barn housing options available” today that meet its antibiotic-free requirement, it plans to […] Read more

Year-over-year same-store sales climb for A+W
Canadian burger-and-root beer chain A+W’s recent moves to boost the profile of its ingredients in a crowded quick-service playing field has pushed its sales past the billion-dollar mark in 2015. The A+W Revenue Royalties Income Fund on Friday reported net income of $21.32 million on $1.061 billion in reported sales from the 814 restaurants in […] Read more

Egg farmers to phase out cage housing over 20 years
Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s egg farmers plan to replace conventional hen cages with more humane conditions over the next 20 years, amid growing pressure from consumers, restaurants and food companies. The plan — announced Friday by Egg Farmers of Canada, an industry group that manages nearly all of the country’s egg supply — comes […] Read more

Tim Hortons, Burger King to move toward cage-free eggs
The owner of Canadian coffee-and-donut giant Tim Hortons and North America’s No. 2 burger chain, Burger King, has reset its goal to take the chains’ egg supplies “cage-free.” Restaurant Brands International, the parent firm for the two chains since their merger in late 2014, announced Monday it will move to 100 per cent cage-free eggs for […] Read more

McDonald’s sales beat as all-day breakfast a hit
Reuters — McDonald’s Corp. reported better-than-expected quarterly same-restaurant sales as the launch of all-day breakfasts proved to be a hit with diners in the U.S. and demand continued to recover in China. The world’s biggest restaurant chain’s shares jumped 3.4 per cent in premarket trading on Monday. McDonald’s introduced all-day breakfasts in October in the […] Read more

Tories challenge ag minister on chief of staff
The federal Conservatives want the House of Commons’ agriculture committee to probe the hiring of a Canadian egg processing heiress as chief of staff to the ag minister. Tory ag critic Chris Warkentin on Wednesday called on both Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and his new chief of staff, Mary Jean McFall, to testify before the […] Read more