Food services and drinking places, February 2025
Released: 2025-04-28
$8.2 billion
February 2025
-0.6% 
(monthly change)
$91.1 million
February 2025
-0.6%
(monthly change)
$38.0 million
February 2025
1.4% 
(monthly change)
$199.3 million
February 2025
2.1%
(monthly change)
$143.6 million
February 2025
-1.3%
(monthly change)
$1,589.1 million
February 2025
-0.8%
(monthly change)
$3,255.3 million
February 2025
-0.5%
(monthly change)
$222.8 million
February 2025
1.3%
(monthly change)
$210.2 million
February 2025
-3.0%
(monthly change)
$1,045.4 million
February 2025
0.7%
(monthly change)
$1,423.7 million
February 2025
-1.6%
(monthly change)
$10.4E million
February 2025
-2.0%
(monthly change)
$7.3E million
February 2025
1.7%
(monthly change)
F
February 2025
F
(monthly change)
Total sales in the food services and drinking places subsector decreased 0.6% in February to $8.2 billion.
Non-seasonally adjusted prices for food purchased from restaurants were down 1.4% in February compared with February 2024. This decrease was due to the federal tax holiday that started in December and was in effect until February 15. Unadjusted prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments increased 0.2% year over year in February.
Chart 1
Sales in food services and drinking places
Limited-service eating places lead declines
In February, the largest decline in sales in dollar terms came from limited-service eating places (-1.1%). This decrease followed 10 consecutive monthly increases. Lower sales were also observed in special food services (-0.6%) and drinking places (-0.6%). Sales at full-service restaurants (+0.1%) saw the only increase. Year-over-year increases were observed at limited-service eating places (+5.2%), special food services (+5.7%) and full-service restaurants (+0.5%).
Sales decline in six provinces
In February, six provinces saw decreased sales, with British Columbia (-1.6%) posting the largest decline in dollar terms, followed by Ontario (-0.5%) and Quebec (-0.8%).
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
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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