Albertans still dining out pushes May sales into record-breaking territory

A recent report shows a spike in spending at Alberta restaurants during the month of May, but it's not being hailed asa trendjust yet.

Native Tongues restaurant in Victoria Park is full most weekdays during the lunch rushand the owners say that's becauseCalgarians are still choosing to dine out, despite the economic downturn.

Cody Willis says his new restaurant has been busy since January.

"The shock factor and people hunkering down completely going into absolutely no-spending mode, trying to save every dime, maybe people got past that a little bit," Willis toldCBC News.

He might be onto something, according to a report from ATB Financial that says there's been a surge in restaurant and bar sales in May.

Albertans spent $761 million that month, breaking the record of $752 million set in August last year.

Jayme McFayden owns B-MEX group,which runs a number of restaurants in Calgary. She says the surge is likely a blip because sales are down compared to years before. But Calgarians in general haven't given up on dining out.

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"There's always people talking about doom and gloom, what's going on in our province right now and a lot of people get scared and turtle too. So even if they can still afford to go out for dinner they're just being a bit more careful with their spending," McFayden said.

"So I actually love the idea that [the report] made it seem that people are still confident and going out and spending money on restaurants and food."

Economist Todd Hirsch is scratching his head over the surge in spending, especially because it doesn't mirror what's happening in other sectors, such as retail or real estate.

"We're still seeing restaurant and bar receipts in Alberta really holding in there quite nicely," Hirsch said.

"They come off that record high once you factor in that forest fire, but they're really not showing much of a decline at all, which is quite remarkable I think."

It's too soon to call it a trend though, Hirsch cautions. He'll need to see data for the rest of the summer to make that connection.

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