Latest sales report on food services and drinking places in Canada: February 2022

Ottawa – Sales in food services and drinking places in Canada increased by just over 20 per cent to $6.4 billion in February 2022 as provinces eased lockdowns and other COVID-19-related restrictions that were in place the previous month.

Sales rose at full-service restaurants (+47.5 per cent), as well as at limited-service restaurants (+3.0 per cent), special food services (+18.0 per cent) and drinking places (+38.7 per cent). All of the provinces reported higher sales, with the largest increases in dollar terms being in Ontario (+26.6 per cent) and Quebec (+33.6 per cent).

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.

Year-over-year sales in the food services and drinking places subsector up from 2021

The figures in this section are based on seasonally unadjusted estimates.

Unadjusted sales for February 2022 were up 39.3 per cent compared with February 2021, but down 4.8 per cent from pre-pandemic February 2020. Sales rose in each of the following industry groups: full-service restaurants (+68.5 per cent), limited-service restaurants (+17.2 per cent), special food services (+51.4 per cent ) and drinking places (+73.4 per cent).

Year-over-year sales increased in all of the provinces, with Ontario (+46.0 per cent), Quebec (+50.7 per cent) and British Columbia (+31.6 per cent) reporting the largest gains.

Prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 4.7 per cent in February 2022 compared with February 2021, and prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments increased 3.4 per cent over the same period.