For those in the food and beverage business, the post-COVID world has been challenging.
After the nightmare of closures and cutbacks brought on by the pandemic, the re-opening was supposed to be better. And it was — but far from what we would have considered normal before COVID as businessowners scramble to rebuild their balance sheets.
On this one, the numbers tell the story.
Saskatchewan’s industry saw a bit of an improvement in February when compared to January. That is a bit of a surprise given that February is the shorter month, but the leap year offered a bit of a lift.
When you break it down by sector, drinking establishments had a much better February than January. Now it was not as good as December – with its party season – or even October and November for that matter but it was showing some improvement as we moved into the new year.
For full-service restaurants, though, the start of a new year is anything but fun. Sales in January and February were anywhere from 20 to 30 per cent lower than any of the previous three months.
