A good number of Alberta restaurants—19 to be exact!—have made OpenTable’s list of Canada's top 100 restaurants for 2025. 14 of these restaurants are in Calgary. That's pretty cool! As an Edmontonian, though, I think we deserve more than just two spots; I can personally vouch for the fantastic dining scene here.

In today's Twenty-Four, we're diving into the details of Alberta's restaurant sales over the first nine months of the year.

Sales* at Alberta's food services and drinking places demonstrated a strong performance over the first nine months of the year, with year-to-date (YTD) receipts increasing by 5.6%. After a slight pullback over the summer, sales bounced back in September. Receipts stood at a new high in the third quarter, up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

The growth was broad-based, though nearly half of the gain was attributed to the limited-service eating places category (such as fast food and coffee shops).

The restaurant industry appears to be continuing to mitigate the impact of rising food costs in an effort to maintain consumer demand. Although restaurant prices rose 5%, 5.9% and 3.6% in 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively, these price hikes were still lower than the price inflation seen at grocery stores. This trend continues this year, with restaurant food prices increasing by only 1.1% YTD, which is considerably less than the 3.6% rise observed in Alberta's grocery food prices.

When adjusted for higher restaurant prices, real sales** growth for both Alberta and Canada stood at 4.5%. Key drivers of this spending include population growth (despite a slowing pace), falling interest rates and a shift toward domestic spending, as Canadians/Albertans have dialed back on their travel to the U.S..

Despite encouraging revenue growth, the sector faces economic challenges. While recent job gains in the accommodation and food sector have been positive, there are a number of vacant positions. In Q2, the job vacancy rate for the food services and drinking places sub-sector was 6.3%, double the average across all Alberta industries. Further, food input costs, as previously mentioned, remain elevated.

Looking ahead to the final quarter of the year, we expect the current trend to persist. While population growth is slowing, heightened tourism and a continued local spending propensity are anticipated to keep revenues near current levels.

*All data in today’s report are on a seasonally-adjusted basis.

**Deflated using the Alberta Consumer Price Index for food purchased at restaurants.

Answer to the previous trivia question: “Big box store” is the term used to describe a retailer that sells many different products under the roof of a large physical location and is often part of a chain.

Today’s trivia question: What is the oldest continually operated pub in Canada?