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The foodservice (US English) or catering (British and Commonwealth English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes , , school and hospital , catering operations, and many other formats.
Suppliers to foodservice operators are foodservice distributors, who provide small wares (kitchen utensils) and foods. Some companies manufacture products in both consumer and food service versions. The consumer version usually comes in individual-sized packages with elaborate label design for retail sale. The foodservice version is packaged in a much larger industrial size and often lacks the colorful label designs of the consumer version.
According to the National Restaurant Association a growing trend among US consumers for the foodservice industry is global cuisine with 66% of US consumers eating more widely in 2015 than in 2010, 80% of consumers eating 'ethnic' cuisines at least once a month, and 29% trying a new 'ethnic' cuisine within the last year.
The Foodservice distributor market size is, as of 2015, $231 billion in the US; the national broadline market is controlled by US Foods and Sysco which combined have a 60-70% share of the market and were blocked from merging by the FTC for reasons of market power.
In the US, the FDA is moving towards establishing uniform guidelines for fast food and restaurant labeling, its proposed rules were published in 2011 and final regulations published on 1 December 2014 which supersede State and local menu-labeling provisions, going into effect 1 December 2015. Research has shown that the new labels may influence , but primarily if it provides unexpected information and that health-conscious consumers are resistant to changing behaviors based on menu labeling Fast food restaurants are expected by the ERS to do better under the new menu labeling than full-service restaurants as full-service restaurants tend to offer much more calorie-dense foods, with 50% of fast food meals being between 400 and 800 calories and less than 20% above 1000 calories, in contrast, full-service restaurants 20% of meals are above 1,400 calories. When consumers are aware of the calorie counts at full-service restaurants 20% choose lower calorie options and consumers also reduce their calorie intake over the rest of the day.
Eating one meal away from home each week translates to 2 extra pounds each year or a daily increase of 134 calories and a decrease in diet quality by 2 points on the Healthy Eating Index.
In addition; the likelihood of contracting a food-borne illness (such as typhoid and hepatitis B, or diseases caused by E. coli, H. pylori, Listeria, Salmonella, and norovirus) is greatly increased due to food not being kept below or cooked to a temperature of higher than , not washing hands for at least 20 seconds for food handlers or not washing contaminated cutting boards and other kitchen tools in hot water.
Table service is food ordered by the customer at the table and served to the customer's table by waiters and waitresses, also known as "servers". Table service is common in most restaurants. With table service, the customer generally pays at the end of a meal. Various methods of table service can be provided, such as silver service.
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