After two months of contraction, seasonally-adjusted revenue collected by Alberta’s “food services and drinking places” (a.k.a. restaurants and bars) was 1.5% higher in December than the month before.

Nationally, sales were up in December by 3.1% with every province posting an increase.

On an annual basis, sales in Alberta were 24.9% ($2.1 billion) higher than in 2021.

Nationally, annual revenue was 26.6% ($17.4 billion) higher than in 2021 with every province posting higher sales than the year before.

This is encouraging news for a sector that was hit extremely hard by the pandemic.

However, while up is definitely better than down when it comes to revenue, it does not necessarily mean that everything is rosy in the sector as operating costs have also been on the rise.

We don’t yet have data on the expenditure side of the equation for 2022, but the profit margin of restaurants and bars in both Alberta and Canada has narrowed in recent years.

The profit margin of Alberta’s restaurants and bars averaged 4.7% over the five-year period before the pandemic compared to 3.2% in 2021. Nationally, it went from 4.2% to 3.7%.

Answer to the previous trivia question: There are 107 Costco stores in Canada.

Today’s trivia question: Named one of the best “greasy spoons” in Canada by the Food Network, when did Edmonton’s Commodore Restaurant first open its doors?