Saskatchewan residents worked up a solid thirst as we headed into the summer of 2025.
Sales at restaurants and bars entered the summer months on a strong footing after a couple bullish months in May and June. Actually, the trend towards higher revenues has been evident since the beginning of the year and kept rising steadily through the spring and into early summer.
Sales in the sector in Saskatchewan topped $237 million in June. That was almost 25-percent stronger than revenues in February of this year.
Much of this increase can be attributed to higher input costs as food and alcohol prices were rising through the period, because of inflationary pressures and tariffs.
Nationally, input costs for both alcohol and food each rose by more than 3-percent in June alone, a significant increase that would amount to more than 35-percent on an annualized basis. Operators may have chosen to absorb some of those costs in June as prices hikes for consumers were more moderate here in Saskatchewan with overall revenues rising less than a half percentage point in June compared to May.
