Food services and drinking places, December 2015
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Released: 2016-02-29
$5.1 billion
December 2015
1.2% 
(monthly change)
Sales in the food services and drinking places subsector rose 1.2% from November to $5.1 billion in December. Prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 2.8% in the 12 months to December, the same increase as in the previous month.
Chart 1
Food services and drinking places sales increase in December
Sales increase at full-service restaurants over the holiday season
Sales at full-service restaurants, an industry typically associated with holiday entertaining, were up 2.7%, accounting for most of the gain in December.
Sales in the limited-service restaurant industry edged up 0.1%, the sixth consecutive monthly increase. The drinking places industry (+0.2%) reported a slight gain in December.
The special food services industry group, which includes food service contractors, caterers and mobile food services, posted a 0.2% decrease in sales, its fourth consecutive decline.
Sales up in all provinces
Sales were up in all provinces in December on the strength of the full-service restaurant industry.
Ontario (+1.3%) posted the largest sales increase in dollar terms.
Receipts in British Columbia were up 1.8%, their sixth increase in seven months.
Sales in Quebec rose 1.0% in December.
Receipts in Alberta increased 0.9%, the first increase in four months.
Sales were up for the sixth consecutive month in Manitoba, rising 2.0% in December.
Note to readers
All data in this release are seasonally adjusted and expressed in current dollars. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
For information on trend-cycle data, see the StatCan Blog and Trend-cycle estimates – Frequently asked questions.
Contact information
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