Food services and drinking places, March 2017
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Released: 2017-05-31
$5.5 billion
March 2017
-0.8% 
(monthly change)
$73.7 million
March 2017
1.8% 
(monthly change)
$20.0 million
March 2017
1.2%
(monthly change)
$130.5 million
March 2017
1.2%
(monthly change)
$99.2 million
March 2017
-0.7%
(monthly change)
$1,023.6 million
March 2017
-3.3%
(monthly change)
$2,205.1 million
March 2017
-1.1%
(monthly change)
$170.9 million
March 2017
0.8%
(monthly change)
$159.9 million
March 2017
0.1%
(monthly change)
$744.9 million
March 2017
-0.3%
(monthly change)
$897.0 million
March 2017
1.1%
(monthly change)
$5.5 million
March 2017
0.3%
(monthly change)
$7.3 million
March 2017
7.6%
(monthly change)
$2.9 million
March 2017
0.5%
(monthly change)
Sales in the food services and drinking places subsector were down 0.8% to $5.5 billion in March. Prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 2.4% compared with March 2016, while prices for alcoholic beverages rose 1.8%.
Chart 1
Sales in the food services and drinking places subsector decrease
Widespread sales declines in March
Receipts at limited service eating places declined 1.5% in March.
Sales at full service restaurants were down 0.2% following three consecutive monthly increases.
At drinking places (-0.2%), sales decreased for a second straight month.
In the special food services industry group, which includes food service contractors, caterers and mobile food services, sales edged down 0.3%.
Sales down in four provinces
Lower sales in Quebec and Ontario accounted for most of the decline in March.
Following three consecutive monthly gains, sales were down 3.3% in Quebec.
Receipts in Ontario decreased 1.1%, giving back most of the gain from the previous month.
Alberta (-0.3%) and New Brunswick (-0.7%) also reported lower sales in March.
Sales were up in six provinces, led by British Columbia (+1.1%), Nova Scotia (+1.2%) and Manitoba (+0.8%).
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.
Data for the current reference month are preliminary. Usually, unadjusted data are revised for the two previous months, and seasonally adjusted data are revised for the three previous months.
With this release, the Monthly Survey of Food Services and Drinking Places is completing annual revisions for 2016. Unadjusted data have been revised back to January 2016 and seasonally adjusted data have been revised back to January 2013.
Factors influencing revisions beyond the usual short-term period include late receipt of respondent information, corrections to the information provided, the replacement of estimated figures with actual values (once available), the re-classification of companies within, into and out of the Food Services and Drinking Places industry, and updates to seasonal factors.
Revisions may have a greater impact in more volatile industries and in smaller provinces/territories.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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