A century or more of s’mores

Roasting a s’more over a campfire on a starry summer night has been a Canadian tradition for over a century now. We have got s’more data on this gooey subject than you can possibly imagine. 

About one in four Canadian households’ picnic or barbecue close to home

While there may be a debate about the level of browning required for the marshmallow, any s’mores aficionado will tell you this delicacy is best cooked over an open fire.

We asked Canadian households if they participated in outdoor activities close to home during the second year of the pandemic.

About one in four Canadian households (24%) told us they picnicked or barbecued close to home in 2021, while 1 in 10 went camping close to home.

Plenty of private recreational vehicle parks and campground options for a s’mores roast

For those Canadians keen on s’mores around a campfire farther from home, there were 1,450 private recreational vehicle (RV) parks and campgrounds businesses with employees and 1,358 without employees to choose from in December 2022. Just over half of the RV parks and campgrounds with employees were located in Central Canada.

You can find private RV parks and campgrounds with or without employees in every province, the number of which ranges from 778 in Ontario to 21 in Prince Edward Island.

In December 2022, 15 of the 18 RV parks and campgrounds with or without employees in the territories were located in Yukon.

Almost two-thirds of the RV parks and campgrounds in Canada with employees were small businesses with nine employees or less. The eight largest RV parks and campgrounds employed 100 to 199 people.

S’mores will cost more this summer

With food inflation remaining elevated, Canadians continue to pay more than they did a year earlier for the three key s'mores ingredients.

Prices for sugar and syrup, the key ingredients to make marshmallows, were up 10.1% year over year in June, over three times higher than the pace of inflation overall (+2.8%). Prices for confectionery, which includes chocolate, were up 9.3%.

Canadians were paying 15.0% more for cookies and crackers this June compared with 12 months earlier.

We make everything that goes into a s’more right here in Canada

In this time of global uncertainty, it is comforting to know that all of the key ingredients that go into a s’more are made right here in Canada.

In 2021, Canadian manufacturers sold $2.3 billion of chocolate and chocolate confectionery, $2.0 billion of cookies and crackers and $1.3 billion of sugar.