On Friday, September 1, 2017, Joseph Carbonara, Editorial Director at Food Service Equipment and Supply, wrote:
Real growth may be slow in the foodservice industry, but the pace of change will only intensify thanks to a cadre of emerging players, a series of dynamic, business-related issues and operators’ insatiable appetite for growth…
The National Restaurant Association (NRA) projects the restaurant industry will grow to $799 billion in revenues in 2017, up 4.3 percent from 2016. In real terms, though, this translates into a growth rate of 1.7 percent, consistent with the past few years. “The past several years, and even the first quarter of this year, have definitely been one of the slower growth environments,” says B. Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research for the NRA.
Looking ahead to 2018 and beyond, the restaurant industry should anticipate much of the same moderate growth rate.
