The pandemic has caused a lot of damage in the restaurant industry but has also created many opportunities for entrepreneurs looking for bargains. Over the past few weeks, across the province, we have noticed a lot of movement! Here are the main changes:

First, the Goofy restaurant in Alma, a popular Lac Saint-Jean restaurant that has been on sale for three years now, could finally have found a taker with the Normandin chain. The latter has begun, in recent years, to make inroads in the region, first in Roberval and then in Saguenay. She mentions being looking for a third location, which could be the Goofy.

Speaking of Normandin, purchases and investments, the chain that was born in Quebec City recently announced that it wanted to inject $10 million to renovate its restaurants. This revitalization project began with the renovation of the very first Normandin located in Neufchâtel, a $700,000 project.

Another transaction was formalized at the very beginning of April, namely the purchase of Groupe Sushi Taxi by the company À la bouffe, which has its head office in Trois-Rivières and which already owns a few restaurant franchises. fast across Quebec.

With 12 corporate restaurants and 9 franchisees, Sushi Taxi joins the 59 restaurants already owned by À la bouffe, which will now have more than 750 employees.

Groupe Blanchette, which manages the operations of Shaker Cuisine & Mixologie, has announced the opening of a new Holy Burgers concept restaurant, initially at La Pyramide in Ste-Foy. This novelty will respond to the new wave of smash burgers, where the meatballs are cooked while being crushed under a cast iron weight, caramelizing the juices of the meat and making it crispy. Very popular in the United States, this way of cooking hamburger meat has already won over Montreal. Now she is arriving in Quebec!

The group took the opportunity to announce the opening of a new Shaker in Old Quebec, its 14th restaurant-bar. Establishments 15 and 16, which are scheduled to open this summer, will be located in Drummondville and Granby.