Alberta’s restaurant and bar sales were down slightly in January. Seasonally-adjusted receipts stood at $752 million, $6.2 million (-0.8%) lower than in December 2021.

Sales were, however, up by $206 million (+43.2%) from January 2021(unadjusted).

Meanwhile, with receipts down by $677 million (-11.3%), the monthly pullback experienced nationally was greater with the surge in Omicron variant cases and related public health measures weighing on the sector.

Every region in the country lost ground with Ontario and Quebec responsible for the majority of the national decline.

Alberta entered Step 1 of its phased easing of public health measures on February 9, 2022. As a result, we expect to see some improvement in restaurant and bar sales in next month’s report.

Answer to the previous trivia question: The odds of having a perfect bracket for the men’s NCAA March Madness Tournament are approximately 1 in 9.2 quintillion.

Today’s trivia question: When was the Big Mac hamburger introduced by McDonald’s?