The Real Cost of a Free Meal

Ottawa’s restaurant scene has no shortage of people asking for free food. They dress it up in soft language—“collaboration,” “exposure,” “content exchange”—but at its core, it’s the same thing: a hand outstretched, palm up, waiting for a comp.

The economics don’t work. The cost of that “free” meal is paid twice. First, by the restaurant: margins are already razor-thin, staff are underpaid, and ingredients aren’t getting any cheaper. Then, by the diner: when influencers normalize eating without paying, it cheapens the entire exchange. Dinner becomes transactional theatre instead of hospitality.

The irony is that the people asking for free meals are rarely the ones who can elevate the conversation around food. They don’t have the curiosity, the vocabulary, or the stomach for anything beyond the snapshot. Their followers are often just other would-be influencers, circling like gulls, waiting for scraps.

Meanwhile, the real supporters of restaurants—guests who quietly book tables, pay their bills, and return—rarely get acknowledged. They’re not loud. They don’t barter. They understand the simplest truth: the cost of a meal is the meal.

Ottawa doesn’t need more content creators feeding off the industry. It needs more eaters. Hungry, curious, paying eaters.