Seasonally adjusted restaurant and bar sales in Alberta were down for the second straight month in November, falling 6.3 per cent ($41 million) compared to October.

Monthly sales in December will be even lower as all restaurants, pubs, bars, lounges and cafes in the province were required to end dine-in service as of December 13.

Year-over-year sales have been lower every month since March and were down by 26.5 per cent ($220 million) in November compared to November 2019.

Total sales in the sector over the first 11 months of the year were off by 23.9 per cent or $2.2 billion.

The lost sales are not evenly distributed across the sector with revenue among “limited service eating places” (which includes fast food restaurants and take-out restaurants) down by 11.9 per cent over the first 11 months of the year compared to close about a 50 per cent drop among drinking places.
Notwithstanding month-over-month improvement in three of the Atlantic provinces, the situation is much the same across the country with year-over-year and year-to-date sales down in every province.

Year-to-date sales in the country as a whole were down by 27.5 per cent or $19.4 billion as of November. Year-to-date revenue was down the most in Ontario at 30.4 per cent or $8.5 billion.

Answer to the previous trivia question: Restaurants and bars are part of the accommodation and food services sector rather than the retail trade sector.

Today’s trivia question: Which chain has the most restaurants in Canada?