Restaurant and bar sales in Canada have surpassed their pre-pandemic levels from 2019,
according to the latest data Statistics Canada.
Canadian restaurant and bar sales increased by 6.5% in March from February of this year to
$6.8 billion. Year-over-year, sales rose 35% compared with March 2021, and were 4.9% higher
than March 2019 before the global pandemic began.
The increase in restaurant and bar sales in March of this year occurred as pandemic-related
restrictions were eased across the country. Ontario saw the largest increase in dollar terms,
while Manitoba saw the biggest percentage increase.
The increase in sales also coincided with surging inflation and rising food costs across the
country. Prices for restaurant food were up 5.4% in March compared with a year earlier,
according to Statistics Canada, while prices for alcoholic beverages increased 3.6% in the same
period.
According to trade group Restaurants Canada, before the pandemic, Canada's food service
sector was a $95 billion industry that directly employed 1.2 million people. During more than two
years of pandemic restrictions on in-person dining across the country, the industry lost hundreds
of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in sales.
