See event listings and more articles in this edition of Agri-News: April 17, 2023 issue
“Higher retail food and beverage store sales reported during the pandemic in early 2020 settled down to a more consistent level by late 2022,” says Jeewani Fernando, provincial consumer market analyst with the Alberta government. “December 2022 sales value for food and beverage stores was close to $1.6 billion which is about 11% higher than the same month in 2019, pre-pandemic.”
The long-term sales trend shows that usually, sales value during the month of December is relatively higher than other months. With food price inflation at its highest point in decades, higher prices have given a lift to total food and beverage store sales figures.
Quarterly sales trends show that food and beverage store sales were up 3.75% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the third quarter of 2022. Grocery stores recorded a 4.3% sales increase with supermarkets and grocery stores reporting a 6.3% increase and convenience stores reporting a significant drop in sales (-24%). Specialty food stores recorded a 3.8% increase in sales, while beer, wine and liquor store sales increased by 1.3%.
“In terms of food service sector sales, after the loosening of nearly 2 years of pandemic restrictions, food service and drinking place sales have improved to about $928 million dollars in December 2022,” points out Fernando. “Total sales in December 2022 were higher than sales in December 2019. However, with food price inflation at its highest point in decades, higher prices have given a lift to total food service sales as well.”
For foodservice and drinking sales, drinking place sales decreased by 7.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the third quarter of 2022. This decline can be attributed to seasonal trends. Foodservice and drinking place sales normally peak during summer (July and August) and then decrease towards the end of the year.
In terms of total value, annual quarterly sales for total foodservice and drinking places increased by 16.4% between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2022. Special food services restaurants, drinking places (alcoholic beverages) and full-service restaurants recorded significantly higher sales with 36.4%, 26.2%, 23.9% respectively.
For more information, see:
Contact
Connect with Jeewani Fernando for more information:
Phone: 780-415-9773
Sign up for Agri-News
Start every Monday with the week’s top agricultural stories and latest updates.
Read about all things agriculture at Alberta.ca/agri-news