Statistics Canada
Symbol of the Government of Canada

Food services and drinking places

Warning View the most recent version.

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.

Related subjects

February 2010 (preliminary) (Previous release)

Sales for the food services and drinking places industry increased 0.3% from January to February to more than $4.1 billion in current dollars. During the same period, the price of food purchased in restaurants rose 0.2%, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

In February, two of the industry's four sectors posted higher sales. The largest advance, at 3.0%, occurred in the special food services sector, comprising food service contractors, caterers and mobile food services. In drinking places, the sales increase was 2.0%.

Full-service restaurants, the largest of the industry's four sectors, registered a 0.1% sales decline.

Similarly, sales decreased by 0.1% in the limited-service restaurants, where patrons order and pay for their meals at the counter.

Provincially, British Columbia (+6.8%) and New Brunswick (+1.0%) were the only two provinces to record higher sales. Meanwhile, sales were down in Saskatchewan (-2.1%), Nova Scotia (-1.7%) and Ontario (-1.6%).

Note: All data in this release are seasonally adjusted and expressed in current dollars.

Preliminary data are provided for the current reference month. Unadjusted data, based on late responses, are revised for the two previous months. Seasonally adjusted data are revised for the three previous months. An annual revision will take place every spring to update all months in the previous year. Revisions are based on information not available at the time of initial estimates, to improve data quality and coherence.

Starting with the reference month of March 2009, estimates are based on the latest restratified sample. For additional information, consult the article "Monthly Survey of Food Services and Drinking Places: Impact of restratification" by clicking on the survey number 2419 listed below.

Available on CANSIM: table 355-0006.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2419.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Marc Racette (613-951-2924; fax: 613-951-6696; marc.racette@statcan.gc.ca) or Pierre Felx (613-951-0075; fax: 613-951-6696; pierre.felx@statcan.gc.ca), Service Industries Division.

Table 1

Food services and drinking places
  February 2009 November 2009r December 2009r January 2010r February 2010p January to February 2010 February 2009 to February 2010
  Seasonally adjusted
  $ thousands % change
Total, food services sales 3,949,761 4,017,691 4,095,013 4,095,073 4,106,743 0.3 4.0
Full-service restaurants 1,752,561 1,770,529 1,821,548 1,802,543 1,800,917 -0.1 2.8
Limited-service eating places 1,667,554 1,726,065 1,737,568 1,754,394 1,753,513 -0.1 5.2
Special food services 309,530 314,258 322,042 324,013 333,844 3.0 7.9
Drinking places 220,116 206,839 213,855 214,123 218,469 2.0 -0.7
Provinces and territories              
Newfoundland and Labrador 47,737 49,310 50,043 50,874 50,561 -0.6 5.9
Prince Edward Island 13,634 14,349 14,581 14,658 14,531 -0.9 6.6
Nova Scotia 103,903 103,092 103,907 105,832 103,987 -1.7 0.1
New Brunswick 77,186 80,793 80,421 80,873 81,678 1.0 5.8
Quebec 805,624 810,571 825,249 831,325 831,389 0.0 3.2
Ontario 1,474,254 1,513,674 1,567,186 1,531,907 1,506,799 -1.6 2.2
Manitoba 112,795 119,937 120,655 120,251 119,175 -0.9 5.7
Saskatchewan 108,551 115,981 116,310 117,245 114,730 -2.1 5.7
Alberta 553,424 546,184 543,540 554,761 550,856 -0.7 -0.5
British Columbia 640,920 651,142 660,145 673,922 719,804 6.8 12.3
Yukon 3,811 4,380 4,271 4,458 F F F
Northwest Territories 6,514 6,932 7,152 7,001 F F F
Nunavut 1,408 1,346 1,553 1,966 F F F
revised
preliminary
unreliable
Note(s):
Figures may not add up to totals due to rounding.