The #DineInDoOver movement encourages Canadians to make up for the moments they’ve missed.

Restaurants have joined the movement encouraging customers to dine in and redo missed milestones that weren’t celebrated due to the pandemic.

Over the last two years, the world watched as the COVID-19 pandemic brought forth some of the most unprecedented times in modern-day history. We saw catastrophic losses, and swift changes to life as we know it, all resulting in a mountain of economic challenges we’ll be battling for years to come. With the customs of daily life nothing but a memory from the era of our own pre-COVID naïvety, one thing that did remain was our innate need for human connection. 

During the pandemic, we as a species quickly adapted to the virtual world to fill the void of what was once face-to-face interaction, leaning on technology for virtual hangouts, first dates, and parties. Our careers and office life even took to the virtual realm, leaving typical watercooler talk to the last five minutes of your weekly zoom meeting. We adjusted and made it work, but we know our species was never meant to deprive itself of real-life connections. 

As we move forward from the last two years, and learn to live in a world with COVID-19, we’ve started to shift back to creating memories with friends; back to holding the hands of our new flame while sharing appetizers at the local bistro; back to catching up with colleagues at the nearby pub; back to celebrating connections. But what happens to those birthdays, first dates, career wins, holiday parties, graduation celebrations that we missed during the pandemic? Well, a ‘redo’ of course! Instead of relegating these milestones to the zoom void, Restaurants Canada sees value in redoing them and making these celebrations a catalyst for new memories. 

This Spring, Restaurants Canada launched its #DineInDoOver campaign to help revive the foodservice and hospitality industry which has been devastated by two years of rolling COVID-19 lockdowns. A survey conducted by Restaurants Canada in February 2022 showed eight out of 10 restaurants have taken on debt due to COVID-19 with two-thirds of these businesses requiring at least a year and a half to recover. The #DineInDoOver campaign aims to kickstart the foodservice industry’s road to revival by encouraging Canadian consumers and businesses to come together at local restaurants, move past the pandemic and ‘redo’ the moments missed over the last two years. This national call to action includes a do-over of birthdays, holidays, milestones, corporate celebrations, etc. that have been missed (or lost) as a result of lockdowns and restrictions. 

Since the launch of the #DineInDoOver campaign, there has been an outpouring of support from restaurants taking to social media and their own communication channels to call on loyal customers to celebrate with dine-in experiences. Consumers have also joined in, sharing the memories they’ve ‘redone’ using the hashtag #DineInDoOver on social media, showing Canadians really have missed the memories made at restaurants, and have been eager to begin making them once again. 

To learn how you can take part in this initiative, help spread the word and get Canadians to make up for the moments they’ve missed, visit www.DineInDoOver.ca