The COVID-19 pandemic saw a major disruption in a lot of local economies worldwide. The greatest impact may arguably have been on the food business. However, we have seen some positive data on that economy lately. On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales in the restaurants and drinking places subsector were up by 0.5% to $7.7 billion in June.
In June, sales increased at full-service restaurants (+1.0%), special food services (+1.6%) and drinking places (alcoholic beverages) (+0.8%), while limited-service restaurants (-0.2%) saw a slight decline.
Alberta (+1.3%), Quebec (+0.6%) and British Columbia (+0.5%) reported the largest increases in dollar terms. Sales in the second quarter (-0.4%) slowed from the first quarter but remained elevated (+5.3%) compared with the last quarter of 2022.
Chart 1Â 
Sales in Restaurants and drinking places
Year-over-year sales in food services and drinking places continue to rise
The figures in this section are based on unadjusted (that is, not seasonally adjusted) estimates.
Sales increased in all subsectors in June 2023 compared with June 2022: limited-service restaurants (+11.6%), full-service restaurants (+10.4%), special food services (+14.6%) and drinking places (+2.7%).
Sales rose in the second quarter of 2023 compared with the second quarter of 2022, as patrons continued to demonstrate demand for dining out. Limited-service restaurants (+12.1%) and full-service restaurants (+9.9%) saw the largest increases in dollar terms. Receipts at special food services rose by over one-fifth (+21.9%) and had the largest percentage increase as cafeterias, weddings, concerts and sporting events resumed. Each of the provinces saw a year-over-year increase on a monthly and quarterly basis.
Prices for food purchased from restaurants were up 6.6% in June 2023 compared with June 2022, and prices for alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments increased 4.9% in the same period.
  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.
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 the direction underlying the series.
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.
