Food services and drinking places

Statscan - Sales for the food services and drinking places industry increased 0.5% from September to October to nearly $4.1 billion in current dollars. During the same period, the price of food purchased in restaurants increased by 0.2%, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

In October, three of the industry's four sectors posted sales increases. The largest advance, at 1.5%, occurred in the special food services sector comprising food service contractors, caterers and mobile food services.

Sales in full-service restaurants, the largest of the four industry sectors, increased by 0.7%.

Sales in limited-service restaurants, where patrons order and pay for their meals at the counter, increased by 0.2%, while sales at drinking places decreased by 0.3%.

Provincially, Alberta (-0.6%), Quebec (-0.3%) and New Brunswick (-0.3%) were the only three provinces to record lower sales. Prince Edward Island posted the largest sales increase at 2.6%.