World Cup lifts restaurant, bar sales
Calgary restaurants and bars scored big during the recently completed World Cup soccer extravaganza, according to Moneris Solutions.
The credit and debit card processor said sales at those establishments during the four-week tournament were 7.3 per cent higher than a year ago. Only Toronto, at 14.1 per cent, posted a better sales increase. Vancouver was third best at 6.6 per cent.
Nationally, Canada’s restaurant industry saw a 6.8 per cent hike in sales led by Nova Scotia’s 16.3 per cent jump. Across Alberta, sales were up by 6.6 per cent.
“What we saw in Alberta and in Calgary specifically, was that citizens of the province and the city definitely liked to get out and support football,” said Rob Cameron, chief product and marketing officer for Moneris. “And what we really saw in these World Cup figures is that football is really catching on in Canada as a sport that people normally like to watch but they like to watch it in groups and get out socially.”
The Moneris research found Calgary’s annual sales growth during the World Cup varied throughout the four weeks — 7.6 per cent in Week 1; 9.7 per cent in Week 2; 4.2 per cent in Week 3 and 6.8 per cent in Week 4.
Maria Mendelman, events manager at Wurst Restaurant and Beer Hall in Calgary’s southwest Mission neighbourhood, said consumers visited the establishment in droves during the World Cup, particularly in support of the eventual winner, Germany.
“We were obviously focused on the German games and we opened the Beer Hall specifically for those games and we sold out every bar seat and every table for every game,” she said.
“We found as it got closer to the end that we would open up for different games and people would come down.”
For the final, in which Germany beat Argentina, the establishment opened up the restaurant and the patio where Wurst rented television sets to show the final game.
“It was quite spectacular for us,” said Mendelman. “And what we hear up and down the street (4th Street S.W.) different bars that opened up for all games, it was very busy for them as well.”