Restaurants, cafes and canteens tanked their April sales

Restaurant receipts slowed 3.3% while cafes and canteens dipped 2.5% as the F&B sector as a whole crashed 1.9% m-o-m.

Food caterers and fast food outlets, though, posted better sales, rising 1.6% and 0.7% in sales, respectively in April compared to the previous month.

On a year-on-year comparison, F&B receipts climbed 5.5% as all four sub-sectors gained, with the highest growth of 8.9% from food caterers to the lowest growth of 3.1% from other eating places.

Here's more from SingStat:

Month-on-Month Change (Seasonally Adjusted). After seasonal adjustment, receipts of restaurants and other eating places (such as cafes and canteens) declined 3.3% and 2.5% respectively in April 2012 compared to March 2012.

On the other hand, turnover of food caterers and fast food outlets increased 1.6% and 0.7% respectively over the same period.

Year-on-Year Change. All major segments reported higher turnover in April 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. Turnover of food caterers and restaurants went up 8.9% and 7.6% respectively.

Similarly, receipts of fast food outlets and other eating places increased 3.3% and 3.1% respectively.