Title: Clustering of Restaurants in Downtown Toronto
Author Shenel Morgan
Abstract:
This research study is aimed at analyzing the
spatial distribution of three different types of
restaurants: Jamaican, Chinese and Indian within
the downtown core. We researched the top ten and
bottom ten of each restaurant to understand their
geographic concentration. Within this article we
seek to understand whether the critical mass theory
can be used to understand the clustering of these
restaurants. The information about each restaurant
such as ratings was taken from the Yelp website.
The agglomeration of restaurants is based on
commonalities and complementarities. Do
restaurants benefit from the presence of local
competitors and does the locality of has anything
to do with certain restaurants cluster?
Key words:
Downtown core, Clustering, Jamaican, Indian,
Chinese, restaurant. Toronto
Introduction
Toronto is conceptualized as a multicultural city
and so it is good to understand this idea from the
stand point of restaurants. The down town core is a
hub of interaction and thus was a perfect place to
use to understand the link between restaurant
success, restaurant clustering and demographics.
Restaurants that are essentially the same exist as
commercial ribbons tied to each other. Ethnic
enclaves are a form of geographic
cluster, China Towns are exemplar ethnic enclave
and can be easily identified by the clustering of
Chinese restaurants. Jamaican restaurants are very
dispersed within the downtown Toronto region.
Restaurants located within ethnic enclave foster a
protected and competitive market that help these
businesses to strive. Chinese restaurants according
Culture, Creativity, and Cities Capstone Course | Dept. of Sociology | University of Toronto – Scarborough
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 Canada
Background
With Patterson’s and Silver’s critical mass theory
they noted that “arts growth will occur in existing
arts districts”, (2015:69). The critical mass theory
can be used to conceptualize and understand the
clustering of Chinese restaurants within a certain
part of the downtown. Chinese restaurants are the
only restaurants that shows clustering and this
clustering occurs within the region of Chin town.
Jamaican restaurants along with Indian restaurants
are dispersed.
“Chinatowns are typically considered ethnic
enclaves dominated by Chinese immigrant
entrepreneurs catering mainly for Chinese-
speaking immigrants. As an economic enclave, it is
characterized by a geographic concentration of
ethnic businesses usually located in major urban
centres and employing co-ethnics”, (Phan et tal
2008, 295). The number of restaurants located
within an area gives clues about the existing
demographic and consumer psychographics. There
are approximately ten (10) Chinese restaurants
along the Spadina; this hints that the populous is
made up of people who have and Chinese
background.
“According to historian Huping Ling's cultural
community theory, concentrated Chinese
restaurants in Monterey Park was a phenomenon
that reflected cultural congregation for ethnic
identity”, (Liu et tal 2009, 143). Chinese
restaurants cluster along Spadina, Downtown
Toronto’s Chinatown is located along the
intersection of Dundas Street West and Spadina
Avenue and is reflected by a diverse set of East
Asian restaurants and businesses.

to research done on the Yelp website have the most
ratings and number of likes. Restaurants in a
cluster might work together to improve their
business and manage their shared urban space.
Findings
Accessibility, locational ambience, and
demographic character of the population being
served are the primary locational considerations.
Chinatown stretches along Dundas Street West and
Spadina Avenue west of the centre of the city;
there is also a second area known as East
Chinatown, extends along both streets from the
intersection of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard
Street. There are not a lot of Jamaican or Indian
restaurants located within proximity of Chinatown
and they are also spread out. Chinatown is a major
Chinese-Canadian community in the Greater
Toronto Area; and this could be one of the main
reasons why Chinese restaurants are so popular and
are located relatively close to each other.
The proximity of a restaurant to its targeted
customer base is a crucial marketing factor. The
number of restaurants located within an area gives
clues about the existing demographic and
consumer psychographics.
An ethnic enclave works as a interdependent
network of social and business relationships; there
is a prevalence of this “clustering” of Chinses
restaurants along Spadina Jamaican restaurants and
Indian restaurants show no signs of clustering and
most Jamaican restaurants that are located within
the downtown Toronto area are not primarily
restaurants, but ‘food shops’, little stores with
minimal seating that serve on the go food.
Secondly, Jamaican nor Indian ethnic enclaves are
located within the designated region we decided to
study.
Culture, Creativity, and Cities Capstone Course | Dept. of Sociology | University of Toronto – Scarborough
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 Canada
Methods
Yelp is an essential corner stone for online
restaurant presence, thus we utilized it to gather our
data. We used yelp to gather the information about
ratings, price, address and number of likes. It was
essential for us to understand the geographic
proximity of each restaurant so that we may
analyze how they are connected. Yelp was a
platform that had all the necessary information and
you could read the opinions of individuals who
visited the restaurants. Based on ratings and views
each type of restaurant had their top ten and bottom
ten; this was done to analyze whether the idea of
clustering helped with business promotion.
Conclusion and Recommendation
There is a competitive nature that exist between the
Chinese restaurants as they are the ones that are
located close to each other (cluster). Jamaican and
Indian restaurants are very dispersed. The overall
décor and set up of most Jamaican restaurants
compose of minimal furniture are most takeout
shops; thus, people who visit Jamaican restaurants
most likely want to ‘grab and go’. Looking back, it
would have been best to find Jamaican restaurants
within the downtown core that were restaurants and
not small shops. This is so because it was difficult
to compare business success or business ratings
with the other two types of restaurants. Chinese
restaurants had the most reviews; thus, ethnic
enclave has a distinct economic advantage. Chinese
restaurants follow an enclave strategy, where its
food and product reflected that of the co-ethics of
the community.
Bibliography
Patterson, Matt and Daniel Silver. 2015. “The
place of art: Local area characteristics and arts
growth in Canada, 2001–2011.”
Poetics 51: 69
87.(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2015.05.003)


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Culture, Creativity, and Cities Capstone Course | Dept. of Sociology | University of Toronto – Scarborough
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4 Canada