Today, Mayor John Tory announced the City of Toronto is partnering with Toronto start up Ritual to provide local businesses with an easy way to accept digital orders online and onsite.
Ritual ONE provides restaurants and food services, such as grocers, butchers and bakeries with an easy way to accept digital orders from their own website and social media accounts. Onsite contactless digital ordering is also available. Customers will be able to choose between pickup and delivery.
Businesses that sign up for Ritual ONE by June 1 will receive the service free for life and will not pay any commission or monthly subscription fees on Ritual ONE orders. Businesses will be provided with a dedicated expert to help support them during the onboarding process. This offer is also available to existing restaurants in the Ritual marketplace. Standard credit card processing rates would still need to be paid. Toronto businesses can sign up for Ritual ONE at ritual.co/partners.
Businesses enrolled in the City’s ShopHERE program – which was launched Monday – will also be eligible for Ritual ONE and a lifetime exemption from commission and subscription fees. Toronto independent businesses and artists can sign up for their free online ShopHERE store at digitalmainstreet.ca/shophere.
These initiatives are a part of the Mayor’s Economic Support and Recovery Task Force’s short-term economic support and recovery plan for Toronto’s businesses.
The City’s website is updated daily with the latest health advice and information about City services and social supports. Check toronto.ca/covid-19 for answers to common questions before contacting the Toronto Public Health COVID-19 Hotline or 311.
Quotes:
“I want to thank Ritual – a Toronto tech success story – for developing Ritual ONE and partnering with us at this critical time as we begin the work of rebuilding our economy. It is through partnerships such as this that we can help our local businesses, especially the restaurant and food services sector, survive and help our entire economy thrive again.”
– Mayor John Tory
“We are excited to partner with Ritual to bring online ordering for pick-up and delivery city-wide. Through the City’s Digital Main Street platform, the ShopHERE program and now our partnership with Ritual ONE, more Toronto businesses than ever, from every corner of the city, will be able to connect with their customers online.”
– Deputy Mayor Michael Thompson, Scarborough Centre (Ward 21), Chair of the Economic and Community Development Committee
“The shift to digital has been growing in recent years, but COVID-19 has accelerated this transition beyond what we could have imagined. If Toronto’s local businesses, especially our mom and pops, are going to make it to the other side of this pandemic, we need to help them get online until we can all get back out on main street. This partnership reinforces the message to our small business community that Toronto has your back. With partners like Ritual, we’re here for you every step of the way.”
– Councillor Brad Bradford, Beaches-East York (Ward 19)
“As a Toronto-based company, it’s important to us that we help our hometown businesses get up and running, while keeping Torontonians safe during this time. Ritual ONE gives your favourite restaurants, bakeries and coffee shops the opportunity to easily offer contactless ordering for pickup or delivery through their existing websites. We believe local restaurants are what make communities thrive, and we are here to support them as we work with Mayor Tory and the City of Toronto to help kick start our economy again.”
– Ray Reddy, Co-founder and CEO of Ritual
“Throughout this crisis, the City of Toronto has recognized the unique challenges facing the restaurant industry. Restaurants of all sizes will need help to recover and initiatives like today’s Ritual ONE announcement and other City programs will aid in the recovery. On behalf of Toronto’s restaurants, I want to thank the City for their continued support.”
– James Rilett, Vice President, Central Canada, Restaurants Canada
Mobile app Ritual connects businesses with customers to offer a simple, time-saving tool to place, pay for and pick up orders for themselves and their workplace teams. Ritual works with thousands of partners around the world, serving customers in more than 50 cities across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Ritual was founded in 2014, with headquarters in San Francisco and Toronto. Ritual was recently named one of LinkedIn’s Top Start-Ups for 2019 and was also named one of Strategy Magazine’s Brands of the Year for 2019. Learn more at ritual.co.
Restaurants Canada is a national, not-for-profit association advancing the potential of Canada’s diverse and dynamic foodservice industry through member programs, research, advocacy, resources and events. Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario’s foodservice sector was a $37 billion industry, directly employing more than 480,000 people, providing the province’s number one source of first jobs and serving 9.1 million customers every day. Ontario’s foodservice industry has since lost more than 300,000 jobs and is on track to lose as much as $7 billion in sales over the second quarter of 2020 due to the impacts of COVID-19.
Toronto is home to more than 2.9 million people whose diversity and experiences make this great city Canada’s leading economic engine and one of the world’s most diverse and livable cities. As the fourth largest city in North America, Toronto is a global leader in technology, finance, film, music, culture and innovation, and consistently places at the top of international rankings due to investments championed by its government, residents and businesses. For more information visit toronto.ca or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CityofToronto, on Instagram at instagram.com/cityofto or on Facebook at facebook.com/cityofto.