Spirits lift Canada on-trade sales over summer

According to research from CGA by NIQ, spirits sales in bars and restaurants grew by 4.6% in value in Canada in the 52 weeks to early September.

The data comes from CGA’s On Premise Measurement (OPM) service, which also found that in the final 12 weeks of that period, over the summer, spirit sales were up even more – by 5.6%.

Meanwhile, beer was up by 4.3% year on year, and up by 4.9% during the summer period.

CGA cited consumers going for better-quality serves over quantity and premiumising their purchases as influencing the uptick in sales growth, as well as higher prices.

However volume sales for spirits were down by 2.1% for the full year, but the decrease lowered to 0.8% in the final 12 weeks.

In terms of provinces, Alberta (up 1%), British Colombia (up 0.5%) and Quebec (up 1.9%) all reported positive movement for spirits sales in bars and restaurants during those final 12 weeks.

Mitch Stefani, CGA by NIQ’s client solutions director – Americas, said: “This latest data has some encouraging signs of improving performance for key drinks categories. While we continue to monitor volume declines, they suggest some momentum may be starting to build.

“The holiday season will naturally capture increased visitation across on-trade venues providing hope for operators amid facing different challenges.”

With the festive season upon us, CGA’s On Premise Consumer Impact Report also showed that nearly nine in 10 (87%) consumers are satisfied with the quality they get from on-trade visits. A ‘large majority’ view their experiences as ‘better or the same’, as they did a year ago.

Value for money was cited as the most important contributor to a good experience, and spirits were the highest rated for satisfaction for value for money, followed by cocktails. A good atmosphere and live entertainment were cited as more important to consumers than they were 12 months ago.

In August, CGA revealed vodka still leads Canada’s on-trade spirits sales, despite a volume decrease.

In more news from Canada, the country could see a 25% tariff on all its products coming into the US, following Donald Trump’s presidential election win.

Chris Swonger, CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (Discus), has said that the tariffs on Canadian whisky, one of its largest trading partners, could “kick off more retaliatory tariffs on American spirits to Canada and Mexico.”