Sales in the food services and drinking places subsector in Alberta reached $810.2 million in December, according to Statistics Canada.

The federal agency said on Tuesday that sales in the province were up by 0.9 per cent from the previous month and rose by 4.1 per cent year-over-year.

Across Canada, sales increased 0.9 per cent to $6.2 billion in December. Higher sales were reported in full-service restaurants (+1.3 per cent), limited-service restaurants (+1.0 per cent) and drinking places (+2.7 per cent). Sales decreased in special food services (-2.7 per cent).

“Higher sales were reported in every province except Manitoba, which decreased 1.0 per cent in December. The highest gains were in Ontario (+0.9 per cent), Quebec (+1.4 per cent) and Alberta (+0.9 per cent),” it said.

On a year-over-year basis, sales in Canada were up by 5.8 per cent.

StatsCan also reported that annual sales of food services and drinking places totalled $72.1 billion in 2018, up 5.2 per cent from 2017.

“This sales increase coincided with growth in the Canadian economy and low unemployment throughout 2018. Menu prices were also higher in 2018, with prices for food purchased from restaurants up 3.8 per cent and prices for alcoholic beverages up 3.4 per cent,” it said.

“Sales increased at full-service restaurants (+5.4 per cent), limited-service restaurants (+5.1 per cent), special food services (+5.3 per cent) and drinking places (+2.2 per cent) in 2018 compared with 2017.”

– Mario Toneguzzi for Calgary’s Business

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