Restaurants & Hotels Magazine, a new trade mag for the Canadian hospitality industry, launched at the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association Show (CRFA) held March 3-5 in Toronto.

Eight thousand copies of a preview edition are being distributed for free at the show, with the official first issue slated for June. That issue will be mailed out via controlled circuation to a forecasted 5,000 subscribers. "Everything really hinges on how it goes at the CRFA show," said Michael Scott, publisher.

The brand launched as a website in March last year. A list of subscribers is being built through contact with site readers, story subjects and classifieds section clients; meet-and-greets at CRFA, including last year's show, and at similar trade shows like the Foodservice Expo in B.C. and ApEx in Alberta; as well as calls to noted industry members. Organizations like the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association and the Hotel Association of Ontario have helped Scott learn the landscape.
 
Restaurants & Hotels will compete in the sector with Kostuch Media's Foodservice and Hospitality and Hotelier magazines, and Ishcom Publications' Restaurant News (Ontario) and (Canadian) Lodging News. Scott aims to differentiate the mag by widening its demographic. "We want to be read by everyone at all levels in the hospitality industry, not just management," he said.

The mag will print 11 editions a year, with a July/August summer edition breaking up the otherwise monthly schedule. The inaugural issue is 32 pages. Full-page ad rates are just over $1,000, while double-page colour spreads go for around $1,600. Advertisers in the preview issue include Red Fork job agency, Louise Prete Fine Foods Catering, and Solutions JYJ, makers of the Pansaver and Scrub Saver food safety product lines.

Both Scott and editor-in-chief Karen Carruthers are new to the magazine world. Down the line, Scott said the mag will bring aboard someone with more experience in the field.

Scott is an entrepreneur, owner of Scott Property Investments and past owner of Backpackers on Dundas, a Toronto hostel. Carruthers was previously on the management team at Rostie & Associates, a management recruitment firm, and has held positions in the restaurant industry as restaurant designer at Prime Restaurants of Canada and director of construction for Manchu Wok.