Interesting Restaurant Industry Trivia

The word "restaurant" comes from the French word "restaurant" which means to restore. A restaurant restores or refreshes us with food and drink.

The first restaurant is said to have opened in France by M. Boulanger, a soup maker by profession in 1765.

The first Chinese Restaurant in the United States is the "Macao and Woosung" founded in 1849.

Seattle, Washington is the location of the first revolving restaurant, built in 1961.

Horn and Hardarts is the first automat that opened in 1902. It is the precursor to modern day fast food businesses.

Walter Scott's horse drawn lunch wagon is considered the precursor to the first diners. In order to get around restrictions placed upon them by the local towns, the owners of the horse drawn wagons took off the wheels and then set up their lunch wagon.

Money Maker

Every dollar a consumer spends in a restaurant means at least another 2 dollars spent in an industry that is associated with restaurants.

Restaurant sales account for almost 4 % of the gross domestic sales.

In the year 2004, an average of just under $1000 was spent per person on restaurant food.

The majority of restaurant workers are on an hourly wage system.

The majority of restaurants are independently owned.

Worker Wise

More restaurant employees are women than men.

More restaurant employees are single than married.

More minority managers can be found in the restaurant industry than any other industry.

The restaurant industry is the second largest employer in the United States.

Approximately 12 million people are employed by the restaurant industry.

Almost forty percent of the adults in the United States have worked at a restaurant at some time in their lives.

The majority of restaurants have fewer than twenty employees.

The majority of restaurant employees work part-time.

Time Travel

The slowest day for a restaurant is Monday.

The busiest day in a restaurant is Saturday.

Friday is the second busiest day at a restaurant.

Younger adults frequent restaurants more often than their older counterparts.

Around the World

Russia is the country where the fewest people go to a sit down restaurant to eat

Hong Kong is the country where the largest percentage of people goes to eat at a sit down restaurant.