Paul Martin's Business Update - July 3rd, 2014

A little warm weather – at last – and the tourist season arriving is usually a busy time for the province’s food and beverage industry. Outdoor patios reopen and, with many of us on holidays, revenues in local restaurants and taverns improve.

This summer promises to be a strong one for the industry if trends from earlier in the year are any indication.

The latest figures we have for the food service sector are from April and they were almost identical to the March performance – just a hair under $150 million for the month. That is roughly $10 million a month higher than Manitoba. It was about 4 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Despite this steady increase, we were an also-ran when compared to other provinces. From Ontario west, revenues in restaurants and bars rose by nearly 10 per cent in the past year. Just what caused the spike everywhere else is unclear but Saskatchewan failed to keep pace because of revenues for special food outlets such as caterers. Everything else was on par with the rest of the west.