The hospitality sector, which employs 1.2 million people, makes $120-billion annual revenue (or 5 per cent of Canada’s GDP).ILLUSTRATION: THE GLOBE AND MAIL. SOURCES: CSA/GETTY IMAGES

Corey Mintz is a Winnipeg-based writer and the author of The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, and What Comes After.

In the fall, I worked on a project that involved scouting and assembling members of a team. If I was in a movie, that process might have been a quick montage – seven samurai, a group of avengers, or a squad of drivers and demolitions experts making split-second decisions about whether they’re “in or out.” But in real life, this takes months of meetings and follow-ups. When it all finally came together, I wanted to plan a get-together so everyone could get to know who they’re doing business with. In such contexts, I’m partial to dim sum cart service: the high energy of servers in bowties swimming through a bustling room with steaming servings of char siu bao or har gow, everyone working together to grab food for a range of tastes for the benefit of everyone at the table.

But as we tried to schedule this lunch, fall bled into winter, and the inevitable happened: The accelerating crunch of holiday plans and deadlines got in our way. So I suggested: Why don’t we do this in January?

Among this half-dozen people, there was a sigh of relief, for two great reasons. One: like everyone, we’re all busy over the holidays, and will have more availability in January. And two: everyone on the team works in hospitality, so we know firsthand that December is when the gravy train chugs along for restaurants – and that January is when it screeches to a halt.

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