Sugar shack owners across Quebec are reopening their dining rooms for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and strangely, they are crediting the novel coronavirus with revitalizing their industry.
Gingras and other owners of sugar shacks – know as cabanes a sucres in French – credit the industry’s resurgence to an online retail platform launched in February 2021 that allows them to sell take-home versions of the traditional spring meals. Created by the association that represents the province’s sugar shacks, the platform – Ma Cabane a la Maison – ended up reinventing the experience.
The pandemic might have been exactly what Quebec sugar shacks needed to revamp their staid, traditional offerings, Stephanie Laurin, chair of the industry association, said in a recent interview. Before the pandemic, the industry was facing an existential threat: mom-and-pop owners were getting old and had no one to take over the business.
“The pandemic made us realize we had stagnated while society was at a place where we needed online stores and for things to be accessible.” Out of 70 operations that participated in the online platform in 2021, 50 decided to remain this year, she said. “When people see there’s no room or can’t make a reservation for the dining room, they buy a meal to take home instead,” Charbonneau said. “There’s a real demand and I think it’s here to stay. It’s a positive note we can take from the pandemic.”