Full-Service Restaurants
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 219,000 full-service restaurants in the US provide food services to patrons who order and are served by waitstaff while seated and pay after eating, a practice known as “table service.” Firms may also offer catering services, food and beverage for off-premise consumption, and non-theatrical entertainment. The full-service restaurant industry includes chains, franchises, and independent operators.
Uneven Demand
Customer traffic at full-service restaurant can vary by day of the week and time of day.
High Labor Turnover
Full-service restaurant operations are labor intensive, and the quality of service is highly dependent on staff.
Industry size & Structure
The average full-service restaurant operates out of a single location, employs about 25 workers, and generates nearly $2 million annually.
- The full-service restaurant industry consists of about 219,000 firms that employ between 5 million and 6 million workers and generate about $424.4 billion annually.
- The industry is highly fragmented; the top 50 companies account for about 17% of industry revenue.
- The full-service restaurant industry includes chains, franchises, and independent operators. The largest chains include Olive Garden, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Chili’s. The largest franchises include Denny’s, IHOP, and Applebee’s. Larger firms may operate both company-owned and franchised locations.
Industry Forecast
Full-Service Restaurants Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 14, 2025 - Earned Wage Access
- To combat high turnover among tipped servers, full-service restaurant operators may want to consider adding earned wage access to their menu of employee benefits, new research commissioned by DailyPay and conducted by The Harris Poll shows. High employee turnover is a major industry pain point. Across the restaurant industry, the average employee tenure is just 110 days, a turnover rate of 41% for front-of-house workers. Earned wage access (EWA) allows employees to draw a portion of their earned wages before their scheduled payday. According to the data, nearly two-thirds (63%) of millennial tipped hourly service industry workers say their overall quality of life and mental health would improve if they had access to their hourly pay when they earned it. Access to EWA even outperformed not being taxed on their tips (60%), having flexible work schedules (60%), or interest rates dropping (36%), according to the poll.
- Driving on-premise traffic will be a higher priority for restaurant operators than capturing off-premise visits this year, according to the National Restaurant Association’s State of the Industry Report 2025. During the pandemic and its aftermath, restaurants, by necessity, focused on their take-out and delivery services. Now, according to the report, 81% of consumers say they would eat at full-service restaurants more frequently if they had more money to spend. Across segments, restaurants are prioritizing on-premise service with 90% of fine dining operators saying on-premise visits would be more important in 2025 than off-premise. Major brands – notably Starbucks and Subway – are focusing their efforts on improving the dine-in experience and make their eateries more appealing places to linger. QSR customers identified store cleanliness as one of the most important factors determining their visit, per the NRA survey.
- Wine lists are getting shorter as restaurants try to make them less intimidating and more welcoming to patrons, The International New York Times reports. More concise wine lists are easier for wine directors to manage and allow them the flexibility to make changes and impose their point of view. Fewer selections also make it easier for diners – who are ordering less wine these days – to digest because they’re not overwhelmed by options. Shorter lists can also encourage customers to try new things. "When you have a big list you're going to gravitate to something you know,” wine director Nikita Malhotra told The Times. By paring down their wine lists restaurants can do without dedicated sommeliers because servers can master shorter lists more easily. To get patrons to sample new wines, some restaurants offer quartinos, flasks containing about a third of a bottle at reasonable prices, the Times noted.
- Rising eggs prices are a challenge for restaurants, especially breakfast-focused formats where eggs are a cornerstone ingredient, Fastcasual.com reports. Bird flu outbreaks have caused the cost of eggs to surge by 30% over the past year. The average cost of a dozen Grade A large eggs was $3.65 in November 2024, up 28 cents from October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By comparison, in 2023 the cost averaged $2.07 per carton. Rising and volatile egg prices impact everything from food costs to menu pricing strategies for full-service and quick-service restaurants. Strategies for managing volatility and protecting the bottom line include reducing waste and managing costs using inventory management software such as Restaurant365. Other cost-control measures include preventing over-portioning, adjusting menus to include less egg-centric dishes, and negotiating with vendors to reduce other food costs to compensate for higher egg prices, according to Fastcasual.com.
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