Annual change in restaurant industry sales in the U.S. 1990-2017

From 2016 to 2017, sales of the United States restaurant industry were forecasted to increase by 1.7 percent, down from a 2.1 percent increase from the previous year.

Restaurant industry sales figures

The restaurant industry in the United States typically constitutes of two distinct restaurant types - full-service and quick-service. Food and drink sales of full-service restaurants were forecasted to reach over 260 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, making it the restaurant type with the highest sales in the industry. Comparatively, sales of quick-service restaurants were forecasted to amount to around 234 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the total food and drink sales in the U.S. restaurant industry were forecasted to amount to nearly 800 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, compared to approximately 766 billion one year earlier. The biggest contributor to the industry in terms of food and drink sales in the United States is McDonald’s, with sales of more than 38 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.

Do higher sales mean more jobs?

Restaurants in the U.S. have established a flourishing industry that, besides being profitable for businesses, has also created many jobs. The number of people employed in the U.S. restaurant industry reached to 13.37 million as of May 2018.