Operations

2022 State of the Restaurant Industry Report available

The annual report from the National Restaurant Association measures the industry’s continued recovery and examines the status of current and emerging trends across key categories.
Image courtesy of the National Restaurant Association

The National Restaurant Association released its 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry report, which measures the restaurant industry’s continued recovery and examines the status of current and emerging trends across key categories including technology and off-premises business, operations, workforce, food and menus, and more.

Key findings illustrating how the restaurant industry continues its recovery include:

  • The foodservice industry is forecast to reach $898B in sales in 2022.
  • The foodservice industry workforce is projected to grow by 400,000 jobs, for total industry employment of 14.9M by the end of 2022.
  • More than half of restaurant operators said it would be a year or more before businesses conditions return to normal. Food, labor, and occupancy costs are expected to remain elevated, and continue to impact restaurant profit margins in 2022.
  • 96% of operators experienced supply delays or shortages of key food or beverage items in 2021 – and these challenges will likely continue in 2022.
  • 51% of adults say they aren’t eating at restaurants as often as they would like, which is an increase of six percentage points from before the pandemic.  

The report is available for free to members, $349 to nonmembers.  

Access the report here.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Most consumers now consider convenience stores viable alternatives to fast food

The Bottom Line: More than half of U.S. consumers now believe convenience-store prepared food is a good alternative to quick-service chains. Did value drive that change?

Financing

It was an ugly quarter for the fast-food business

The Bottom Line: The sector leads the list of losers from the third quarter, as consumers largely shifted spending to other restaurants or just stayed home.

Financing

Starbucks' year to forget

The Bottom Line: It’s been a full year since the coffee shop giant’s sales fell off a cliff. Here’s a look back at just how bad that year has been and a key lesson for the company and just about anyone else.

Trending

More from our partners