The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Toronto takeout service Ritual Technologies cut nearly half of its work force last week, adding to a slew of global layoffs in the tech sector. A triple-bylined item led by Ana Pereira says that 38 employees were affected, representing 40 per cent of its staff, Ritual confirmed Friday. This is the third round of staff cuts for Ritual over the past few years. It had more than 300 employees when it was looking like a breakout hit in 2019. Last year it cut 23 people, which at the time was 15.5 per cent of the work force of 148. As of March 31, that number was down to 77 employees. Ritual, whose mobile app enables consumers to skip lines at quick-service restaurants by ordering and checking out in advance, was one of the most promising globally minded and fast-growing Canadian start-ups until the pandemic hit its business hard. Prepandemic, it partnered with more than 10,000 restaurants in Europe and Asia, including those in Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Hong Kong. The Globe notes that Canada's tech industry has seen better days. The most high profile series of layoffs was at Shopify, once Canada's most valuable company, which slashed 20 per cent of its work force.