March 30, 1998 - People Spending More When Dining Out, NRA Survey Says

by Larry Aylward

People continue to spend more money dining out, according to a new report from the National Restaurant Association.

The average household expenditure for food away from home was $1,702 in 1995, up 0.2 percent from 1994, according to NRA's Restaurant Spending Consumer Expenditure Survey. NRA gathered its material for the report from the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Patrons are using restaurants for several reasons -- a multitude of food choices, an entertaining environment, and as a time-management tool to fit meals into busy days," says Thomas Kershaw, NRA's chairman of the board. "Consumer spending in the restaurant industry is projected to exceed $336.4 billion in 1998."

The survey reports on data for a variety of demographic criteria, including age and occupation of household head; number of earners in the household; size, income and composition of the household.

The surveyed segregates data according to the region in the which the household is located.

Expenditures on food away from home rises as household income rises, NRA reported. In 1995, households earning incomes of $70,000 or more comprised only 13 percent of total households but accounted for 28 percent of total spending on food away from home. Households earning less than $30,000 comprised 52 percent of households but accounted for only 30 percent of total spending on food away from home.

Households headed by people under 25 spent the largest share (47.7 percent) of their food dollars on food away from home in 1995. But average per capita spending on food away from home for these households was $675, lower than the average for all households, $681.

Households headed by persons ages 35 and 44 spent an average of $2,023 on food away from home in 1995. Because of their large average household size (3.2 persons), per capita spending on food away from home was $632, also below the average.

Households headed by people between 45 and 54 had the highest per capita spending, $802, of all age groups on food away from home in 1995.

Regionally, per capita expenditures on food away from home was highest in the Northeast at $699, and lowest in the West at $640. Spending in the Midwest was $689 and $658 in the South.

This article reprinted with permission from Meat Marketing & Technology.

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