Year-over-year restaurant sales up, says Statistics Canada

Ottawa – Sales were up by more than a percentage point at full-service restaurants and down slightly at limited-service restaurants, but both have increased healthily year over year, according to Statistics Canada’s latest report.

Sales in food service and at drinking places were up 0.7% to $5.8 billion in February, the report said. Sales increased at full-service restaurants (+1.5%), drinking places (+1.8%) and special food services (+0.3%). Sales at limited-service restaurants edged down 0.1%.

Higher sales were reported in eight provinces. Ontario (+0.8%), Quebec (+1.7%) and British Columbia (+1.0%) posted the largest increases in February. Sales in Alberta (-1.2%) and Manitoba (-0.3%) decreased.

The figures in this section are based on unadjusted (that is, not seasonally adjusted) estimates.

Unadjusted year-over-year sales were up in the food services and drinking places subsector, increasing 4.5% in February 2018 compared with February 2017.

Prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 4.0% and prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments increased 2.2% in the same period.

The Consumer Price Index increase in food purchased from restaurants was the highest year-over-year increase since 2009.

Year-over-year sales
Sales in each of the following industry groups increased: full-service restaurants (+5.8%), limited service restaurants (+3.5%), special food services (+3.8%) and drinking places (+1.1%). Sales increased in most of the provinces, with the largest gains in dollar terms seen in Ontario (+5.3%), British Columbia (+9.6%) and Quebec (+3.1%).