Food services and drinking places, October 2021
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Released: 2022-01-04
$6.2 billion
October 2021
-0.5% 
(monthly change)
$73.3 million
October 2021
-2.2%
(monthly change)
$28.1 million
October 2021
0.9% 
(monthly change)
$148.3 million
October 2021
-2.2%
(monthly change)
$103.9 million
October 2021
-3.5%
(monthly change)
$1,198.3 million
October 2021
0.1%
(monthly change)
$2,414.8 million
October 2021
-0.3%
(monthly change)
$183.6 million
October 2021
-0.8%
(monthly change)
$162.3 million
October 2021
-3.8%
(monthly change)
$785.0 million
October 2021
-2.3%
(monthly change)
$1,112.6 million
October 2021
0.9%
(monthly change)
$7.5 million
October 2021
2.7%
(monthly change)
$5.4 million
October 2021
0.3%
(monthly change)
$1.5 million
October 2021
-4.3%
(monthly change)
On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales in the food services and drinking places subsector decreased 0.5% to $6.2 billion in October 2021 compared with the previous month. Sales fell at full-service restaurants (-0.7%), drinking places (-7.6%) and special food services (-2.2%), while sales at limited-service eating places were up (+0.3%).
In October, seven provinces reported lower sales, with the largest decrease in dollar terms being in Alberta (-2.3%), Ontario (-0.3%) and Saskatchewan (-3.8%). New Brunswick (-3.5%), Nova Scotia (-2.2%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-2.2%) also reported declining sales as the fourth wave of COVID-19 spread throughout the country.
Chart 1
Sales in food services and drinking places
Further information is available in the Food Services and Drinking Places Sales dashboard, where users can consult data on sales in food services and drinking places for Canada and by province and territory. This application allows users to compare provincial and territorial data through interactive maps and charts.
Year-over-year sales in the food services and drinking places subsector rise, almost reaching pre-pandemic levels
The figures in this section are based on seasonally unadjusted estimates.
Unadjusted sales for October 2021 were up 29.4% compared with October 2020 and were 3.8% lower than October 2019.
Prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 3.5% in October 2021 compared with October 2020, and prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments increased 1.3% (see table 18-10-0004-13).
Note to readers
All data in this release are seasonally adjusted and expressed in current dollars, unless otherwise noted. Seasonally adjusted data are data that have been modified to eliminate the effect of seasonal and calendar influences to allow for more meaningful comparisons of economic conditions from period to period. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Trend-cycle data are included in selected charts to complement the seasonally adjusted series. These data represent a smoothed version of the seasonally adjusted time series and provide information on longer-term movements, including changes in direction underlying the series. For information on trend-cycle data, see the StatCan Blog and Trend-cycle estimates – Frequently asked questions.
Data for the current reference month are preliminary. Usually, unadjusted data are revised for the previous two months and seasonally adjusted data are revised for the previous three months. Both seasonally adjusted data and trend-cycle estimates are subject to revision as additional observations become available. These revisions could be large and could even lead to a reversal of movement, especially for reference months near the end of the series or during periods of economic disruption.
Find this data and more statistics on the Business and consumer services and culture statistics portal.
Contact information
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