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 217,100 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
Sep 14, 2024 - Sales and Payrolls Rising
- Overall employment by full-service restaurants ticked up 0.9% in July compared to a year ago, while average industry wages increased by 2.6% over the same period to $19.91 per hour, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Payroll growth at restaurants is being supported by rising consumer expenditures, up 2.6% in June year over year and 0.2% compared to May, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Sales for food services and drinking places are also rising, growing by 3.5% year over year in June.
- Most restaurant operators reported a decline in same-store sales in July, according to the National Restaurant Association. Only a fifth of restaurant operators said their same-store sales increased between July 2023 and July 2024, per the associations’s monthly tracking survey. That’s down sharply from 35% of operators who reported higher sales in June. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of operators said their sales fell in July, up from 56% in June and the highest percentage since January 2024. July’s weak performance marked the continuation of a soft patch in sales, with July representing the seventh consecutive month of net-negative sales readings, per the NRA. Moreover, only 13% of restaurant operators said their customer traffic increased in July year over year, while 71% reported a traffic decline, marking the 16th consecutive month of net declines in customer traffic.
- Citing high prices and weak foot traffic, Technomic has revised its 2024 restaurant sales forecast downward, Restaurant Business (RB) reports. After initially expecting a 5.3% increase in sales for 2024, the data and analytics firm now expects a 3.8% increase, a downward revision of 1.5 percentage points. Moreover, Technomic projects that menu prices will increase 3.7% this year, meaning it now barely expects restaurant sales to keep pace with price hikes, according to RB. Limited-service brands are expected to outperform full-service establishments, with Technomic forecasting fast-casual sales to grow 6.4% this year and quick-service restaurants are expected to grow 4.6%, both of which are well above inflationary levels. By comparison, casual-dining chains are expected to grow sales by 2%, while family-dining or “midscale” restaurants are expected to grow 1.6%. Fine dining sales are expected to grow by 3.2%.
- A new California law banning “junk fees” extends to surcharges at restaurants, marking a significant shift in billing practices in the food industry, according to Zaller Law Group’s California Employment Law Report. Under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Senate Bill 478), which took effect on July 1, 2024, California restaurants are prohibited from adding service fees to bills, a tool many eateries have adopted to combat wage inflation. The bill promotes pricing transparency by eliminating hidden costs that inflate the final bill unexpectedly. At the national level, the Federal Trade Commission has included restaurant surcharges in its proposed trade regulation rule. The FTC’s proposed rule would require businesses to include all required fees in the original listed price, including restaurant service charges. The National Restaurant Association reported that 16% of restaurants added a surcharge of some kind to customers’ bills in 2023, up from 15% in 2022.
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