What is the size of the restaurant industry?
There are more than 945,000 restaurant locations in the United States, with sales projected to reach $558 billion in 2008.

How many people are employed in the restaurant industry?
The restaurant industry is one of the nation's largest private-sector employer, providing jobs for 13.1 million individuals.

What proportion of the population has worked in the restaurant industry?
More than two out of five adults in the United States have worked in the restaurant industry at some time during their lives.

How many meals are eaten in restaurants each year?
Restaurants will provide more than 70 billion meal and snack occasions in 2004.

How are restaurant menus changing?
The restaurant industry is an industry of choice, and the content of restaurant menus is, and always has been, dictated by consumer demand. To cater to today's increasingly healthy conscious diners, restaurants are adding additional nutritious options to fit any individual's dietary needs and preferences.

How are restaurants helping people live a healthy lifestyle?
Restaurants provide a wide variety of options at a wide variety of venues, and most restaurants welcome and encourage consumers to customize their orders-which 75 percent indeed do-including requests for salad dressing or sauce on the side, cooking in vegetable oil instead of butter, substituting side orders, etc. In addition, many restaurants provide nutritional information via brochures, Web sites and posters and create their own healthy lifestyle initiatives.

How much does the typical household spend in restaurants each year?
The average annual household expenditure for food away from home in 2002 was $2,276, or $910 per person.

What is the restaurant-industry share of the food dollar?
The restaurant-industry share of the food dollar today is 46.4 percent, compared with only 25 percent in 1955.

What is takeout and delivery's share of total restaurant traffic?
Off-premises (takeout and delivery) traffic accounted for roughly 58 percent of total restaurant traffic in 2001.

How does the National Restaurant Association define the restaurant industry?
The National Restaurant Association defines the restaurant industry as encompassing all meals and snacks prepared away from home, including all takeout meals and beverages. Get more details.

What research information is available from the National Restaurant Association?
Areas of research conducted by the Association include industry, operations, human resources, consumer, economic, and analysis of a variety of industry-related statistics. See all our research.

How fast is the restaurant industry growing?
In 2004, the restaurant industry will post its 13th consecutive year of real (inflation-adjusted) sales growth.

What is the most popular month to eat out? How about the most popular day of the week?
August is the most popular month to eat out and Saturday is the most popular day of the week for dining out.

What is the most popular holiday or occasion for eating out?
Nearly seven out of 10 adults (66 percent) visit a restaurant on their own or someone else's birthday, making this the most popular occasion to dine out, followed by Mother's Day (38 percent) and Valentine's Day (28 percent).