How Big Is the Restaurant Industry?

August 27th, 2007 · No Comments

A few facts and figures based on the American Restaurant Associations 2007 projections:

There are over 935,000 food and beverage establishments in the US. They will serve over 70 billion meals and snacks.

$537 billion in sales.
Accounts for 4% of the total GDP for the United States.
Overall economic impact will exceed $1.3 trillion.

12.8 million employees.
It is the second largest industry in the US besides the government.
Over 9% of the jobs in the US are related to the restaurant industry.
Nearly half of all adults in the US have worked in the restaurant industry at some point in their lives.

Over 70% of all eating and drinking establishments in the US are independently owned.
60% of restaurants are owned by women or minorities (in all other industries women and minorities make up less than 50%).

The bottom line is, you are part of a huge industry. Despite the figures of the number of restaurants that fail, there are a lot that do succeed. For those that survive, there is a lot of money to be made. Keep checking back to make sure you have all the tools you need to succeed in the restaurant industry.