Food services and drinking places, October 2016

Released: 2016-12-22

Total sales for the food services and drinking places subsector edged down 0.2% to $5.5 billion in October following a 1.6% gain in September. Prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 2.6% in the 12 months to October, while prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments were 1.7% higher.

Chart 1 
Sales in the food services and drinking places subsector slightly decrease

Full-service restaurant sales decline

Lower sales at full-service restaurants (-0.7%) were the main contributor to the decline in October, offsetting some of the gains from September. Receipts from the special food services group (-1.5%), which includes food service contractors, caterers and mobile food services, were also down in October.

Sales at limited-service eating places increased for the fifth consecutive month, rising 0.4% in October. Receipts at drinking places increased 2.2% in October, marking the third consecutive gain for this industry group.

Sales down in British Columbia

Sales in British Columbia fell by 1.6% in October following a 2.7% gain in September. While sales were down in October, they were more than 10% higher than the level of October 2015.

Sales in Alberta (-0.2%) and Saskatchewan (-1.2%) were both down from September. Sales were also lower in Nova Scotia (-0.5%).

In Quebec, sales increased by 0.4%.

Sales in Ontario (+0.1%) and New Brunswick (+2.3%) were also higher.

Contact information

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