Finally, at the cabin! | The Press

(Mont-Saint-Grégoire) The maple trees have not flowed yet this year, but some sugar shacks are full of customers in their dining rooms, which have finally reopened after two years of the pandemic.

Simon Chabot
The Press

“I bet, like at the casino, and I could very well have had to sell 40,000 meat pies at half price, like in 2020,” says Mélanie Charbonneau, owner of Érablière Charbonneau, at the foot of Mont Saint- Grégoire, in Montérégie. Behind her, customers and waitresses come and go in an incessant ballet on this Monday lunchtime during spring break. M^me Would Charbonneau be on the way to winning her bet?

Two springs after the start of the pandemic, which suddenly ended the sugaring-off season across Quebec in March 2020, customers are quick to gorge themselves on pea soup, baked beans, ham, omelettes, pancakes, sister’s farts and sugar pie (and we’re going on). On Monday, more than 200 people had made a reservation at Érablière Charbonneau. “The demand is very, very great for face-to-face meals,” rejoices its owner.

In the dining room, good humor reigns.

Teacher Isabelle Longtin has a first meal at the hut with her 18-month-old daughter Laeticia. Pregnant, the pandemic had deprived her of a planned outing for sugaring off in the spring of 2020. “Since that time, I had a craving to go to the cabin. »

Despite the biting cold, Marina Colinares laughs with her two sons in the game modules before going to the table. “We are not yet used to this temperature, we have only been here for three years,” she said. We come for the children, but we like it too, we had already tried before the pandemic. Matthew, 11, can’t wait to eat pancakes in syrup. Marc, 9 years old, prefers potatoes, sausages and… this crispy thing which is called what again? Ah yes, the crunch ears.

Take-out meal

Even if they are limited to 50% of their capacity until March 14, many cabins were quick to receive customers. But not all. Some will be content to offer take-out meals again this year. This is the case, for example, of the Sucrerie des Gallant in Sainte-Marthe, near Rigaud, or the Sucrerie Jean-Louis Massicotte et Filles in Champlain, Mauricie. Uncertainty about reopening dates, inability to offer both indoor and boxed meals, staff shortages… the reasons for this prolonged closure are multiple.

“I understand them, assures Mélanie Charbonneau. Me, I was afraid of running out of staff, but for the moment, that’s fine. We also continue to sell boxes. Last year, we sold them all year round. Pandemic or not, take-out meals are here for good at the Érablière Charbonneau, whose products can be found, along with those of around fifty other cabins, on the My cabin at home site.

Rising prices

In Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, the Amours cabin was also able to reopen its dining room in time for sugaring off. But the new maple grove that the company has just acquired nearby will not serve meals this year. “We should have known earlier, to hire enough people. There, it’s too hard, with the production of syrup at the same time, ”explains owner Marilyne Gauthier.

Here too, there is great enthusiasm for indoor dining. “We even see reservations for groups of 15 or 20 people, that surprised us,” says M^me Gautier.

On the other hand, the rise in prices does not delight anyone. “We have no choice with inflation,” she insists. It’s a big challenge to get people to understand the value of our homemade products, and the whole cabin experience. We must bet less on volume and more on quality. We need to change mentalities. »

Wanted syrup

The pandemic has been very hard on many sugar shacks, especially the smaller ones, held at arm’s length by families for years. According to a study by the Association des salle de reception et érablières du Québec (ASEQC), the pandemic has threatened the closure of up to 75% of all cabins that serve meals. Conversely, the crisis seems to have favored syrup producers. Demand for the product has never been stronger, especially in overseas markets, with exports up 22% in 2020 and 21% in 2021. Coupled with lower production in 2021, this strong demand has drops syrup reserves from 104 million to 37 million pounds. The Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (PPAQ) therefore allocated 7 million new taps this year to producers, who now number 13,300, an increase of 2000 compared to last year.