The revenue of Alberta’s restaurants and bars stood at an historic high as seasonally adjusted receipts at food services and drinking places rose $36 million (+4.2%) to reach $886 million in April.

Through the first four months of 2022, unadjusted sales were up by $816 million (+35.1%) compared to the same period last year. Relative to other provinces, Alberta’s year-to-date gain (in percentage terms) was third highest after Quebec (+48.9%) and Ontario (+45.4%).

Inflation continued to play a part in the increase, but was not the main factor. Over the first four months of the year, prices of food purchased from restaurants in Alberta were up only 3.0% while revenue surged 35.1% during the same timeframe.

Meanwhile, with monthly gains posted in every province and territory in April, national restaurant and bar revenue was up by $6.5 billion (+38.6%) on a year-to-date basis.

Despite inflation rates spiraling to highs not seen in decades across the country, looser public health measures related to COVID-19 continued to push restaurant and bar sales higher. We expect the story to be largely unchanged in May despite the overall consumer price index rising by a record 7.7% in Canada.

Answer to the previous trivia question: The lodgepole pine is the official tree of Alberta.

Today’s trivia question: What is the official grass of Alberta?