The irony was as bitter as the desserts were sweet: On the night Yorkville restaurant Boba closed for good, owners Barbara Gordon and Bob Bermann finally pulled in a full house.
As Mr. Bermann circled the room, redecorated just last April as the restaurant introduced a cheaper menu, he had to remind himself why they were closing.
Sales that had started slowing last December almost dried up with the economic collapse; food, tax and fuel costs were up; bad nights were outnumbering good by an alarming ratio; and the couple had already plowed through personal savings and bank loans to cover wages.
"In the end, it came down to numbers," Mr. Bermann said. "We were brutalized."
If Toronto's restaurant industry has a canary in the mine, this could be it.
While France's cafés and bars are closing at an average of two a day, and New Yorkers are relearning the art of cooking at home, Toronto's restaurant sector is riding a murky wave into the new year.
Special dining offers are being rolled out, portion sizes are being slimmed and menu prices trimmed.
Meanwhile, corporate workers are choosing desk lunches over restaurant visits, people are dining out less; when they do come in, they're choosing cheaper meals and wines.
Jerrett Young, operations manager for Oliver and Bonacini Restaurants, said some "precipitous effects" were starting to appear in the sector.
Hosts of private functions have smaller guest lists, prefer lunches to dinners, and are opting for mid-market restaurants.
Diners still frequent the company's high-end restaurants, Canoe and Auberge du Pommier, but they are ordering more cautiously. The average guest is spending between $2 and $4 less, which Mr. Young says quickly adds up.
"People are a lot less frivolous with their money," he said. "There is a lot more interaction with staff about wine. They want good value."
For Mr. Bermann, the warning bells became shrill alarms when the market crashed in September. Corporate dining slumped by 70 per cent compared with last year and have barely risen since. Boba's new menu, with almost every meal under $30, was working, but not enough people were coming through the door.
"The coup de grâce was the crash of the market," Mr. Bermann said. "Our demographic was more over-50 than under-50. They had their plans seriously rearranged in a quick and decisive manner."
The couple had survived recessions before. In 1990, they closed the popular Beaujolais and reopened it as the Avocado Club, offering $12 meals. Once the market recovered, they moved to Yorkville and opened Boba in 1995.
But this downturn, Mr. Bermann said, is different.
"This one happened suddenly and affected a much wider demographic. Everyone has been affected by these things. The psychology of it this time was much more brutal."
Now, Mr. Bermann, 51, will "circle the wagons" and seek a new job. Ms. Gordon, 73, will retire.
"It was a matter of two or three tables a night," he said. "The margin from success to failure ... is very narrow."