Make-or-Break Canada Day Weekend Set to Deliver 30%+ Boost for Canada's Bar and Restaurant Owners
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TORONTO — The countdown to Canada's most celebrated summer holiday is on and, for bars and restaurants, this Canada Day long weekend could be a make-or-break moment. According to a new survey commissioned by Square, 72% of Canadians plan to spend more time vacationing in Canada and enjoying local restaurants this year—an increase attributed to the current political climate.
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To help food and beverage sellers make the most of the busy holiday and succeed, technology company Square announced today it is launching its most powerful, portable point-of-sale device yet alongside a suite of industry-specific features and upgrades to empower Canadian businesses to move faster, deliver better customer experiences and grow.
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According to newly-released Square data, Canada Day weekend is far more than just a celebration: it's an important revenue driver for the hospitality industry. In 2024, bars and restaurants using Square to run and grow their businesses saw a 36% nationwide sales jump over the July 1st holiday weekend—building on a 30% rise in 2023. The boost didn't stop there: after the long weekend, sales remained elevated above the annual average for the next two months—a crucial period for operators aiming to shore up their bottom lines before Fall.
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Making the Most of Summer in Canada
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This year, nearly three-quarters (72%) of surveyed Canadians anticipate spending more time in the country and at local restaurants, bars and pubs due to the current political climate—and almost half (47%) plan to 'make the most of summer in Canada.'
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Square data analysts will be monitoring this possible patriotic halo effect on popular food and drink items sold during the Canada Day long weekend. Last year, mocktails, signature poutines, local craft brews, and cocktail pitchers dominated orders over the extended holiday period—setting the tone for a lively 2025 patio season.
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New Square Handheld
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Every dollar counts between Canada Day and Labour Day—this period represents roughly a quarter of annual sales for many independent bars and restaurants across the country. To help Canadian bars and restaurants make the most of the season, Square is launching Square Handheld, a powerful and pocketable point-of-sale device that weighs in at 0.34 kgs and is only 1.2 cm thick. For quick-service restaurants, that means cutting down on lines during a busy rush, and for full-service restaurants, it's taking orders tableside or from across the bar.
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A durable-yet-elegant device, Square Handheld is designed to stand up to water splashes and dust, plus offers an optional case, designed by Belkin, for added protection against accidental drops. Built to handle the realities of a busy shift, it offers a battery built to last all day and both Wi-Fi and offline payments capabilities—ensuring businesses stay up and running. A camera with integrated barcode scanning capabilities also allows food and beverage businesses to take product pictures and quickly scan in retail offerings like merch or bottles of wine. By eliminating unnecessary trips between tables and the counter, Square Handheld enables servers to provide more attentive service and turn tables more efficiently during peak hours, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased revenue.
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'Square Handheld has made us dramatically faster. It's quick and easy to take orders and payment processing between customer and server is much more pleasant,' said Itamar Shani, owner and chef at Chickpea Restaurant in Vancouver, B.C. 'The device feels durable – it has high quality construction and no corners prone to chipping; it's definitely built to last.'
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Streamlining Front and Back of House
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Square is also introducing additional new features and expanding its comprehensive partnership ecosystem to help restaurants streamline and grow their businesses even further:
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Square's new Item Splitting feature saves time and ends the fuss when it's time to split the bill among guests. The new feature makes it easier and faster for staff to check out larger groups by reducing time spent calculating totals and waiting on guests to discuss shared costs.
Square's newly streamlined DoorDash Integration is built for accuracy and efficiency, from order to delivery. Now, sellers can manage menus, pricing, and orders – all within Square, with seamless real-time syncing to keep everything running smoothly.
With Scan to Pay QR codes on receipts, customers can scan and settle up without having to wait for busy servers to collect payment. That means restaurants can turn tables faster and staff have more time to serve diners.
With Multichannel menu management, Square sellers can now seamlessly edit and update menus across all locations and channels, both online and offline, in one centralized Dashboard.
Pre-authorized bar tabs streamline the checkout experience for customers, providing fast, hassle-free payments, while giving businesses added security against financial loss.
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'Square has gone big in restaurants, and it shows, with our product velocity accelerating to include more restaurant-specific tools to help Canadian restaurant and bar owners capture every order, all while freeing up staff to spend more time serving customers,' said Ming-Tai Huh, Head of Food and Beverage at Square. 'Square is the technology backbone for hundreds of thousands of businesses across Canada, from neighbourhood cafés to national chains – and with this latest release, we're giving single unit and multi-unit restaurants the tools they need to operate efficiently and thrive in today's dynamic marketplace – on Canada Day long weekend and throughout the year.'
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For more information on Square's recent product innovations and how they can help a single-location full-service restaurant, a busy multi-location quick-service restaurant, a bar or a multiconcept business, visit https://squareup.com/ca/en/townsquare/whats-new-2025. Methodology The national omnibus survey was conducted from May 2 to May 5, 2025, among a nationally representative sample of 1,626 Canadian residents aged 18 and older who are members of Leger's online panel, balanced and weighted on age, gender, region, education, and language. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of 1,626 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.4%, 19 times out of 20.
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Square analysis is from transaction data from hundreds of thousands of food and beverage sellers in Canada between January 2023 and December 2024.
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About Square
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Square makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. For more information, visit www.square.ca.
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