Last month, we brought you a chart that showed how spending on food at home compared to spending on food at restaurants and fast-food chains has aligned and is pretty much even.
Well, according to new government figures from the United States Census Bureau, it’s now official that Americans consumers are spending more at restaurants than at grocery stores.
The report highlighted that consumers spent more on food at restaurants than at supermarkets in the month of March, which is the first time that has ever happened since the bureau started calculating this trend in 1992.
Analysts believe it’s a sign that consumers are becoming confident in the economy. Also, observers note that it’s really a sign of modern times. Consumers are looking for convenience, and it’s now “an important element of their lifestyle,” says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association.
There isn’t exactly a gap between generations either. Research has indicated that millennials are going out more often, especially considering that restaurants are beginning to cater to this generation’s likes and dislikes. Moreover, baby boomers are starting to eat out more as well because they can enjoy the fruits of their labor and enjoy imbibing meals others are preparing for them.
It may turn out to be your patriotic duty (sarcasm) to eat out because restaurants have quickly become an imperative sector to the economy. Ostensibly, the restaurant industry generates $709 billion in annual sales, up by four percent from the year before. With one million restaurants across the country and 14 million jobs, which accounts for roughly 10 percent of the labor market, the economy could very well be depending on restaurants to sustain itself.
Is there a personal finance benefit to frequenting restaurants than cooking a meal at home? No, says the NPD group (via Bloomberg News), which found that restaurant meals are rising faster than the cost of at-home meals: $6.96 versus $2.24, respectively. In addition, households are allocating a greater number of their food budget on restaurants than on food purchased for their home.
Why anyone would ever want to eat out restaurants instead of preparing a nice home cooked meal at home is truly befuddling…Just look at the state of some restaurants in the U.S.:
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