Food services and drinking places, March 2025
Released: 2025-05-27
$8.4 billion
March 2025
1.8% 
(monthly change)
$94.3 million
March 2025
1.9%
(monthly change)
$37.8 million
March 2025
0.8%
(monthly change)
$200.9 million
March 2025
0.7%
(monthly change)
$143.7 million
March 2025
-0.0% 
(monthly change)
$1,593.2 million
March 2025
1.0%
(monthly change)
$3,330.2 million
March 2025
2.3%
(monthly change)
$224.8 million
March 2025
1.5%
(monthly change)
$216.8 million
March 2025
3.7%
(monthly change)
$1,060.9 million
March 2025
1.6%
(monthly change)
$1,457.1 million
March 2025
1.8%
(monthly change)
$10.2 million
March 2025
-2.0%
(monthly change)
$7.1 million
March 2025
-1.4%
(monthly change)
$2.1 million
March 2025
F
(monthly change)
Total sales in the food services and drinking places subsector increased 1.8% in March to $8.4 billion.
Non-seasonally adjusted prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 3.2% in March when compared with March 2024. Unadjusted prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments increased 3.1% over the same period.
Chart 1
Sales in food services and drinking places
Full-service eating places lead gains
In March, the largest increase in sales came from full-service eating places (+3.2%). Higher sales were also observed in limited-service eating places (+0.6%), special food services (+1.1%) and drinking places (+2.5%).
Sales increase in nine provinces
In March, nine provinces saw increased sales. Ontario (+2.3%) posted the largest increase in dollar terms, followed by British Columbia (+1.8%), Alberta (+1.6%) and Quebec (+1.0%). Saskatchewan (+3.7%) saw the largest increase in percentage terms, bouncing back from a weak February.
Looking for more insight?
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.
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Note to readers
With the release of the March 2025 preliminary estimates, unadjusted monthly data were revised back to January 2024, while seasonally adjusted data were revised back to January 2021 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 newly created businesses, utilizing the most recent administrative data, updates to seasonal factors and the reclassification of businesses within and outside of the food services and drinking places subsector.
Unless otherwise noted, all data in this release are seasonally adjusted and expressed in current dollars. 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 page 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 these data and more statistics on the Business and consumer services and culture statistics portal.
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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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