Food expenditure in Canada

Organization

Statistics Canada

Published

2003

Summary

Canadian households spent almost the same amount on food in 2001 as in 1996, according to new data from the Food Expenditure Survey. However, growing preference for eating out during this five-year period has changed how food dollars were spent.

In 2001, households spent an average of $124 a week on food in either stores or restaurants, an amount similar to five years earlier when inflation is taken into account.

For every dollar households spent on food in 2001, 30 cents went to restaurant meals, up from 28 cents five years earlier. The share spent in stores declined correspondingly, from 72 cents of every dollar in 1996 to 70 cents in 2001. In 1982, restaurant spending accounted for 25 cents out of every dollar spent on food.

In 2001, households spent an average of almost $38 a week in restaurants and $86 on food purchased in stores.

In 2001, almost 60% of restaurant spending took place in table-service restaurants, compared with 26% in fast-food restaurants (including take-out) and less than 10% each in cafeterias and other types of restaurants such as snack bars and chip wagons.

More than 80 cents of every food dollar spent in stores in 2001 was spent in a supermarket. Specialty food stores, convenience stores and other types of stores such as department stores or drug stores were well behind, with less than 10 cents each of that dollar.

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Source: Consumer Policy Research Database