ABSTRACT
There are an estimated 980,000 restaurants in the U.S. What is more, total restaurant and foodservice sales are expected to approach $660.5 billion in 2013 (NRA, December 11, 2012). This level of sales represents an increase of 3.8% over 2012 – slightly below the average annual restaurant growth rate of 3.92% from 2005 through 2012. Figure 1 shows restaurantindustry sales from 2005 through 2012, and then forecasts them out to 2020 using a modest rate of 3.0% annually. At this level they will reach $800 billion by the end of the second decade – more than double the sales at the start of the century.
