Food services and drinking places, April 2021
Released: 2021-06-22
$4.4 billion
April 2021
-11.7% 
(monthly change)
$64.2 million
April 2021
13.3% 
(monthly change)
$25.2 million
April 2021
-0.8%
(monthly change)
$127.5 million
April 2021
-3.6%
(monthly change)
$96.1 million
April 2021
-0.6%
(monthly change)
$801.9 million
April 2021
-6.2%
(monthly change)
$1,543.2 million
April 2021
-16.1%
(monthly change)
$152.0 million
April 2021
-0.7%
(monthly change)
$134.2 million
April 2021
-6.2%
(monthly change)
$614.4 million
April 2021
-12.5%
(monthly change)
$798.2 million
April 2021
-14.4%
(monthly change)
F
April 2021
F
(monthly change)
F
April 2021
F
(monthly change)
$1.5 million
April 2021
-4.4%
(monthly change)
On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales in the food services and drinking places subsector fell 11.7% to $4.4 billion in April 2021 compared with the previous month, as the third wave of COVID-19 and its resulting restrictions swept across the country. Sales declined at full-service restaurants (-21.3%), limited-service restaurants (-4.5%), special food services (-12.4%) and drinking places (-22.0%). Nine of the provinces reported lower sales with the largest decrease in Ontario (-16.1%) as a province-wide stay at home order came into effect on April 8. The next largest decreases were in British Columbia (-14.4%) and Alberta (-12.5%) as indoor dining was restricted in both provinces.
Chart 1
Sales in food services and drinking places
Further information is available in the Food Services and Drinking Places Sales dashboard, which provides access to 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.
Sales in the food services and drinking places subsector are up year-over-year, but still lower than before the pandemic
The figures in this section are based on seasonally unadjusted estimates.
A year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent restrictions on the food services and drinking places subsector, unadjusted sales for April 2021 were up 77.0% compared with April 2020, the hardest hit month of the pandemic. While companies in the food services and drinking places subsector pivoted to conduct business in a new reality for the past year, sales are still almost one-third (29.5%) lower than April 2019.
Prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 2.5% in April 2021 compared with April 2020, and prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments decreased 0.4% over the same period (see table 18-10-0004-13).
Note to readers
With the release of the April 2021 preliminary estimates, unadjusted monthly data were revised back to January 2020 in table 21-10-0019-01. Factors influencing revisions include late receipt of respondent information, corrections to the information provided, the replacement of imputed data with reported data (once available), introducing new births, utilizing the most recent administrative data, the re-classification of companies within, into and out of the food services and drinking places subsector, and updates to seasonal factors.
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.
Contact information
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