Sales for Canadian food services and drinking places industry rise 1% to C$4.7B in April, the fourth consecutive monthly increase, Statistics Canada says; prices for food purchased from restaurants up 0.4%

Nevin Barich

OTTAWA , June 30, 2014 (press release) – Sales for the food services and drinking places industry increased for the fourth consecutive month, rising 1.0% to $4.7 billion in April. At the same time, prices for food purchased from restaurants rose 0.4%.

Every sector reported higher sales in April. The limited-service restaurant sector (+1.0%) had the largest gain in dollar terms. Full-service restaurants posted a 0.5% increase in April, following moderate growth the previous three months. Sales in the special food services sector, which includes food service contractors, caterers and mobile food services, increased for the fourth consecutive month, up 2.9% in April. Sales in the drinking places sector rose 0.9% in April, following relatively flat growth the two previous months.

Sales were up in eight provinces in April.

In dollar terms, Alberta (+3.4%) reported the largest increase, mostly driven by the limited-service restaurant sector.

Sales gains in Quebec (+1.1%) and New Brunswick (+4.4%) more than compensated for the declines in these provinces in March.

In British Columbia, sales were up 0.4% as a result of growth in the limited-service restaurant sector.

Sales in Ontario (+0.1%) rose for the fourth month in a row.

Lower sales in Newfoundland and Labrador (-0.1%) and Saskatchewan (-0.3%) were mostly caused by declines in the special food services sector.

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