Food services and drinking places, February 2026
Released: 2026-04-28
$8.8 billion
February 2026
0.6% 
(monthly change)
$96.1 million
February 2026
1.2%
(monthly change)
$38.7 million
February 2026
1.2%
(monthly change)
$211.5 million
February 2026
2.5%
(monthly change)
$149.3 million
February 2026
0.0%
(monthly change)
$1,657.9 million
February 2026
-0.4% 
(monthly change)
$3,429.5 million
February 2026
1.2%
(monthly change)
$250.0 million
February 2026
0.2%
(monthly change)
$231.9 million
February 2026
1.5%
(monthly change)
$1,143.4 million
February 2026
-0.8%
(monthly change)
$1,531.5 million
February 2026
0.9%
(monthly change)
$10.2 million
February 2026
0.5%
(monthly change)
$6.9 million
February 2026
-2.9%
(monthly change)
$2.0 million
February 2026
-0.9%
(monthly change)
Total sales in the food services and drinking places subsector increased 0.6% in February to $8.8 billion.
Non-seasonally adjusted prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 7.8% in February compared with February 2025. Unadjusted prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments increased 6.8% over the same period. These increases were particularly large in the year-over-year Consumer Price Index due to the GST/HST break from December 14, 2024, to February 15, 2025, which lowered the price of food and some alcoholic beverages paid by consumers at restaurants.
Chart 1
Sales in food services and drinking places
Full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places drive gains
In February, the largest increase in sales came from full-service restaurants (+1.4%), followed by limited-service eating places (+1.0%). After a month of strong growth, special food services (-5.7%) posted a large decline. Sales at drinking places (-0.1%) decreased slightly.
Sales increase in eight provinces
Sales increased in eight provinces in February, with the largest increase in dollar terms coming from Ontario (+1.2%). Nova Scotia (+2.5%) posted the largest increase in percentage terms. In contrast, sales in Alberta (-0.8%) and Quebec (-0.4%) declined.
Looking for more insight?
More 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.
Note to readers
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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