Full-service restaurant sales on Prince Edward Island jumped to $8.6 million in March 2021, making it the only province to see higher revenues compared to pre-pandemic levels of March 2019. Sales were driven by the launch of Prince Edward Island’s very successful Dine In & Save program, which allowed patrons to save 50% when they dined at full-service restaurants from Sunday through Wednesday between March 21 and March 31, 2021.
The P.E.I. government reimbursed participating restaurateurs up to $15 per person, per meal (50% before taxes and gratuities for up to $30 spent per patron on food and non-alcoholic beverage purchases). In order to qualify for the program, establishments needed to be full-service and locally owned.
By way of comparison, full-service restaurant sales in New Brunswick were down 12% in March 2021 compared to March 2019, while sales tumbled by 19% in Nova Scotia.
Overall, total commercial foodservice sales in Canada improved to nearly $4.8 billion in March 2021. While this represents a 19.3% increase over March 2020, sales remained a staggering 23.3% below March 2019 levels.
For more information on sales by province and by segment, click here.
