The Statistics of America's Food Service Industry
Americans love to eat out! Sales in food service grew from $632 billion in 2012 to $898 billion in 2022, according to National Restaurant Association data, and are expected to approach $1 trillion this year.
It takes millions of workers to prepare, serve, and deliver meals in restaurants, businesses, and schools; in fact, there were about 13.9 million people employed in food service occupations in 2022. As demand for food service grows, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for these occupations will increase by about half a million jobs from 2022 to 2032.
When taking into account workers who leave these occupations and need to be replaced, we project there will be an average of 2.6 million job openings each year within food service occupations through 2032. For National Food Service Employee Day on Sept. 25, here’s a look at some of the occupations in food service projected to grow from 2022 to 2032, by the number of annual job openings. None of them require more than a high school diploma or equivalent.
Fast food and counter workers
They are employed primarily by limited-service restaurants, cafeterias and snack bars at which customers generally order and pay before eating. These workers take food and beverage orders, prepare or retrieve items, and accept payment. They also heat food items and make salads and sandwiches.
Cooks at restaurants
They prepare a variety of dishes, usually by individual order, in eating establishments. Some restaurant cooks order supplies and help maintain the stock room.
First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers
They supervise and coordinate workers preparing food.
Bartenders
They mix drinks and serve them directly to customers or through wait staff.
Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers
They are sometimes collectively referred to as bus staff — help waiters waiters, waitresses, and bartenders by cleaning and setting tables, removing dirty dishes and stocking serving areas with supplies. They also may help waiters and waitresses by bringing meals from the kitchen, distributing dishes to diners, filling water glasses and delivering condiments
Cooks at institutions and cafeterias
They work in the kitchens of schools, cafeterias, businesses, hospitals, and other establishments. They typically prepare a large quantity of entrees, vegetables and desserts according to preset menus. However, they sometimes customize meals, such as for diners’ dietary considerations.
Driver/sales workers
They deliver takeout food from restaurants.
Food servers (non-restaurant)
They provide food to customers outside a restaurant environment. For example, they may deliver room-service orders in hotels or meals to hospital rooms. Some work as carhops at venues such as drive-in movie theaters, bringing orders to customers in parked cars.
Chefs and head cooks
They oversee the daily food preparation at restaurants and other places where food is served.