30 Delicious facts about the U.S. restaurant industry.

How often do you eat meals at restaurants, cafeterias, coffee shops, fast food drive-throughs or even food trucks? If you’re like most Americans, you very well could be eating the majority of your meals outside of the home as busier schedules, more hours at work, running errands, and activities, an increase in discretionary income, and less stay-at-home spouses add up to more people eating at restaurants than ever before. 

Here are 30 facts about the US restaurant industry you might find interesting:

The restaurant industry by the numbers:

1. As of the spring of 2015, there were 630,511 restaurants in the U.S. – or 1 for every 504 people!

2. Of those, about 37 percent, or 232,611, are fast food establishments and restaurants, bringing in $191 billion and paying out $47 billion in wages every year.

3. The restaurant industry is so big that it exerts significant law-making power, with 304 food and beverage lobbyists in 2015, together spending more than $17 million. 

That sum is just an appetizer compared to the record more than $57 million spent in 2009. Coca Cola and Pepsi were the strongest political lobbyists, with more than $7.5 million in campaign and political contributions between them

4. In fact, the NRA (National Restaurant Association) is the biggest and strongest umbrella organization for food and beverage servers in the U.S., founded in 1919 and now representing more than 380,000 restaurants. 

5. A popular and often-used statistic is that 90 percent of restaurants go out of business in their first year – originally floated during an American Express commercial. However, that is just a myth. 

6. In fact, about 60 of restaurants do not make it past their first year - only slightly higher than the attrition rate for all first-year business failings, but 80 percent do go under within five years. 

Employment:

7. Restaurant employees in 2015 reached 14 million, almost one in ten people!

8. The restaurant workforce makes up approximately 10 percent of the overall US workforce. 

9. It is forecasted that there will be a huge rise in the number of people employed in the U.S. restaurant industry and that by 2025 it will reach a whopping 15.72 million with 1.7 million opportunities becoming available.

10. In 2013, employees were asked if they were proud of their role within the restaurant industry. 

11. Contrary to popular thoughts, 54 percent of those surveyed said they were proud to work in the restaurant industry. Only three percent stated that they we’re not happy in their jobs. 

12. Approximately 50 percent of all adults got their first job experience in a restaurant or have worked in the industry at some point during their lives.

13. Seven in ten of those who do currently work in the restaurant industry say they will until they retire.

14. Eight in ten restaurant owners started their industry careers at entry-level positions like dishwashers, busboys, and servers, and worked their way up the ladder.

Eating out:

15. The average American eats on average 4.2 commercially prepared meals per week. As a nation, eating out between four and five times a week, on average. This number equates to 18.2 meals in an average month eaten outside the home.

16. In 2008, the number of meals purchased at a restaurant within the United States was 207 per person. In 2001 there was an all time high of 211 meals per person and in 2011 only 194 meals per person – all numbers that reflect the economy at the time.

17. According to the Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, the food away from home category amounted to 42 percent of expenditures outside the house in 2012.

18. 69 percent of consumers said they are more likely to eat at a restaurant that offers locally produced food items.

19. When it comes to lunch money, there are some big differences between how men and women dine. According to a Visa survey, the amount that is spent on eating out at lunch is higher for men. In fact, men outspend their female counterparts by 44 percent, an average $21 compared to $14 for women. 

Sales and revenue:

20. On a typical day the restaurant industry can reach $1.9 billion in sales. 

21. By the end of 2015, total yearly sales in the restaurant industry are expected to hit a record high of $709.2 billion. 

22. These numbers are still considered reasonably low, considering we’re six years removed from the recession. Still, that reflects the greater trend of Americans eating out much more than in past generations. In fact, in 1970 – the first year revenue data was collected – the restaurant sales only reached $42.8 billion.

23. Each person in our country spend $2,500 eating out every year on average according to the USDA, which comes to $208 per month or $48 per week. 

24. Many restaurants make the largest portion of their profits on beverages! In fact, the gross margin for food is around 60 percent, but restaurants charge $2.50 or more for a soda that costs them pennies. 

25. Their mark up on alcohol and wine is just as high, typically 200-600 percent or more. In fact many restaurants list one or two very expensive bottles of wine on their menus not because they think someone will order them, but just to make the mid-range bottles appear more affordable. 

26. At any restaurant, the food items that yield the highest profit margins are usually pastas and pizzas, both costing the restaurant only $1.50-$2.50 to produce, but charging their customers $10-$15. 

Fascinating restaurant trivia:

27. At 1,075 feet high and offering 360-degree panoramic views of the city, The Mid-America Club in Downtown Chicago, is the tallest restaurant in the States, and tenth highest in the world.

28. The Union Oyster House in Boston is America's oldest restaurant, opening its doors in 1826. Union Street itself was first laid out in 1636 and the building that the Oyster House occupies goes back to the 1700s, and a future French king once lived on the second floor above the now-Oyster House.

29. The Japanese restaurant, Masa in New York City was quoted in January 2015, as being the most expensive in America.  With each person looking at a cost of $450 (and that’s before tip.) And…if you decide last minute to change your plans and cancel your booking you will face a charge of $200.  

30. The biggest eating out day Valentines Day $8 billion, followed by Mothers Day.

The Million Dollar Club; A look at millionaire status in the U.S.

For many of us growing up in the 1970s and 80s, it was held as the ultimate measure of material success: millionaire status. In our minds, to accrue one million dollars meant we would live in a gigantic 2,400 square foot mansion, drive a Porsche 911 with our salmon colored collars turned up, and probably get interviewed by Robin Leach on the sun deck of our yacht for “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”

Decades later, we’ve had plenty of television shows, songs, books, and yes, even real estate seminars that celebrate membership into the vaunted millionaire club. And while a million dollars isn’t what it used to be (adjusted for inflation, $2,848,567 is equal to $1,000,000 in 1980,) it’s still an enviable chunk of change. So let’s take a look at who exactly these millionaires are, how they got there, and if our perceptions still stand true.

Although estimates vary, the most recent assessment is that there are about 6.15 million millionaire households now in the U.S. It’s important to note that those figures include retirement plans and insurance with cash value, but don’t count the value of real estate because the volatile nature of equity.

There are 114,235,996 households in the United States, so 1 in every 20 households in the U.S. has more than $1 million in assets. While that may seem like a lot, remember that we’re talking about households, which most likely contain more than one person, not individuals.

1 out of every 39,015 households has $100 million or more, while

1 out of every 314,700 households has $1 billion or more. 

There are approximately 12.6 million households in the world that have a net worth exceeding $1,000,000, so almost half of them are in the United States.

Of the 6.15 million millionaires in this country, only 304,118 actually earn one million dollars per year or more.

California, Texas, and New York hold 25% of the nation’s millionaires.

The states with the most millionaire households per capita are:

1)        Maryland (7.7% of households there!)

2)        New Jersey

3)        Connecticut

4)        Hawaii

California is 6^th on that list, with 777,624 households with at least $1 million in assets in 2013.

Statistically, the average millionaire is a fifty-seven-year-old male who is married and has three children.

Almost all millionaires are married, the vast majority of them to their first and only spouse.

Millionaires in the U.S. have an average household net worth of $3.7 million.

The median annual household income for millionaires is $131,000. Of course that is just the median, or the exact 50th percentile. The average household income is $247,000.

8% of millionaires make between $500,000 to $999,999 in income every year, while only 5% earn more than $1 million.

On average, their total annual realized income is less than 7 percent of their wealth. That means they aren’t getting rich on their income for the most part.

The median net worth in millionaire households is $1.6 million but the average is higher, with nearly 6 percent enjoying a net worth of over $10 million.

About 95 percent of millionaires in America have a net worth of between $1 million and $10 million.

97 percent of all millionaires are homeowners.

Their average home is currently valued at $320,000 and they’ve lived in the same house for more than twenty years. (That speaks to the fact that most millionaires don’t live as lavishly as we might expect.)

Approximately 70 percent of millionaires earn 80 percent or more of their household’s income, making one person (the vast majority are men) the primary bread earner.

About half of their wives do not work outside the home. When they do work, the most frequent occupation is teaching.

Two-thirds of millionaires who are still working are self-employed. In contrast, self-employed people make up less than 20 percent of American workers.

Three out of four of millionaires who are self-employed call themselves entrepreneurs, while the rest are usually professionals like doctors, lawyers, and accountants, etc.

Most millionaires do not work in glamorous industries like pro sports, music, and entertainment, etc. They aren’t the CEOs of companies or tech wizards. In fact, the vast majority of millionaires made their wealth in professions they describe as “dull-normal”: running service, blue collar businesses or manufacturing companies that fill an under-served and very specific niche.

They are hard workers but not necessarily workaholics, as about two-thirds of millionaires put in between forty-five and fifty-five hours per week.

80 percent of millionaires have first-generation wealthy, having self-made their fortunes, going against the common perception.

 Only 19 percent of millionaires receive any income or wealth of any kind from a trust fund or an estate.

Fewer than 20 percent of them inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth, a tiny proportion. More than half of all millionaires received no inheritance at all!

About fifty percent of them never even received a dollar of college tuition from their parents or other family.

But millionaires are well educated: only about one in five are not college graduates. Eighteen percent have master's degrees, 8 percent law degrees, 6 percent medical degrees, and 6 percent Ph.D.s.

They are mostly a product of public schools, as only 17 percent of millionaires or their spouses ever attended a private elementary or private high school. But their children are in private schools, to the tune of 55 percent of them.

A majority of millionaires did not attend Ivy League schools (though they did attend those institutions at a rate much higher than the general public).

Millionaires actually live well below their means and are frugal. Only a small minority live in big newer houses or drive new or leased cars. Instead, they live in older homes they’ve had for a very long time, older cars, and wear modest or inexpensive clothing.

They live in nice family neighborhoods but are usually the wealthiest, with more than six and one-half times the level of wealth of our non-millionaire neighbors, but. But their non-millionaire neighbors outnumber them more than three to one.

They are meticulous budgeters, planners, savers, and investors, on average investing at least 20 percent of their earned income every year.

They enlist the professional help and opinions of plenty of investment professionals, but in the end, most of them end up managing their own investments to some degree.

Most millionaires have accumulated enough assets so they wouldn’t have to work for 10 years at least, and usually much longer.

Right on Time; A History of Watches.

There’s something special about wearing a great watch. You can put on a fancy suit or drive a nice car but that little timepiece on your wrist beats them all, conveying class and confidence to the gentleman wearing it.  But we seldom think about where they came from, and how they’ve evolved over the years.  So we’re going to explore everything there is to know about watches, the noble and sophisticated timekeeping accessory.  Today, in part 1, we’ll look at the history of watches, and then in part 2 we’ll explore the world’s best, most expensive, coolest, and highest-tech watches, as well as the most renowned and prestigious watchmakers.

Our modern version of wristwatches evolved from pocket watches and before that, spring-powered portable clocks, that came into existence about 500 years ago in Europe.  The word “watch” has two possible origins.  One is that it originates from the Old English word “woecce,” which means “watchman,” describing a town watchman who had to keep careful track of time shifts.  The second entomology traces back to 17th century sailors, who used the new inventions to time the duration of their watches, or shifts of duty.


15th century
Spring powered clocks are commonplace, but are still large and hang on the wall.

1485
The famous artist, scientist, and inventor, Leonardo da Vinci, sketches the mechanism for a smaller clock, or watch.

1504
Peter Henlein, a clockmaker from Nuremberg, invents the first pocket watch.  It’s under dispute whether he was actually the first, but he was one of those who designed taschenuhr, or timepieces worn as pendants that could be carried.

1571 

England’s Queen Elizabeth I received a wristwatch as a gift from watchmaker Robert Dudley, which he describes as an “arm watch.”  

Late 1500’s
Clock-watches become popular for the elite and wealthy, which they attached to clothing or wore around their necks on expensive chains.  These timepieces had four hands and kept accurate time only marginally well, but were a status symbol.

1687
Inventor Daniel Quare patents a mechanism for clock watches that sets off a ringing bell every quarter hour, the first rudimentary alarm (though it was little more than a regular egg timer.)

1657
The balance spring is invented, the seminal advance in watch technology.  Before this, most watches were commonly off by hours and offered little practical use.  But with the balance spring, accuracy of timepieces improved to the point where watches were off maybe only 10 minutes per day.

1680-1700
The minute hand is introduced in Britain and later in France

1780
Frenchmen Abraham Louis Perrelet invents the self-winding movement, vital as a source of powering watches.

1848
The first watch company is born when Louis Brandy opens his own workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds, eventually becoming the Omega Watch Company.

1868
Patek Philippe made the first wristwatch in 1868 for Countess Koscowwitcz of Hungary.  The Swiss watchmaker out of Geneva went on to pioneer the perpetual calendar, split-second hand, chronograph, and minute repeater in watches.  Patek Philippe is still known as one of the finest quality watch companies in the world.

1876
Sharing of technology, cheaper materials, and mass production allow watches to reach the common person, sometimes only for a dollar.  These were all pocket watches, however, not wristwatches yet.

1880
Constant Girard-Perregaux develops the concept for the first wristwatch on orders of the Kaiser to outfit German naval officers.  Two thousand of these first wristwatches were made.

1884
Greenwich, England is officially named the zero meridian and recognized as the international basis of time zones (GMT +0) which centralizes the watchmaking industry around those European countries.

1880’s
Wristwatches became an important resource in wartime for two reasons: it allowed soldiers on the field to synchronize maneuvers.  Before that, smoke signals, drums, flag waving, and horsemen were used to signal the time for action, which also signaled the enemy at the same time.  Also, it allowed soldiers to keep their hands free to carry weapons or other tools.  Officers in the British Army use wristwatches during their colonial military campaigns in the late part of the 19th century, such as in the Anglo-Burma War of 1885.

1904
Albert Santos, a Brazilian aviator, asked his friend Louis Cartier to come up with an alternative to the pocket watch that would allow him to keep both hands on the controls during flight.  Cartier comes up with the prototype for the first wristwatch, called the Santos wtristwatch.  Alberto was a celebrity so the watch was replicated.


1905
Hans Wilsdorf opened a watchmaking office in Switzerland, the start of the Rolex Watch Company.

Early 1900’s
Smaller forms of wristwatches are made, called wristlets, but only for women and are considered a brash fad, like wearing of skirts.  Real men still carried pocket watches.

1914-1918
Solders are issued wristwatches in World War I, called “trench watches.”  They were large and bulky and the 12 o’clock crown was to the left, not top, but they allowed soldiers to check the time without having to put down or sheath their weapons.

After the war, pocket watches lost popularity for these new wristwatches, and by the 1930’s it’s estimated there are fifty men wearing wristwatches for every one carrying a pocket watch.

1957
Watches that are powered by electric batteries are introduced.

1969
The use of quartz revolutionizes watch making.  Quartz is a common mineral in nature, containing silica and oxygen.  Due to its composition, quartz can produce electric pulses when placed under mechanical stress, a process called Piezoelectricity.  Therefore, the use of quarts crystals in watches produces a very precise frequency standard, helping regulate the movements of a watch or timepiece to amazing precision.  


1972
More than forty years ago, the Hamilton Company introduced the world's first commercial digital wristwatch, retailing for $2,100!

1974
The Japanese company, Casio, launches two decades of Japanese dominance in electronics, including innovations in watches, calculators, synthesizers, and cameras. They start with the release of the Casiotron, the first electronic watch to reach mass popularity.




1982
The American personal computing company, Texas Instruments, releases its own multi-function digital watch before pulling back from the watch market in 1982. Armitron, Pulsar, Sanyo, Seiko, and Citizen all have their own versions.

1983
Casio releases its G-Shock watch, a digital but shock proof and water resistant watch with practical uses for military, law enforcement, and outdoor enthusiasts who need something rugged but functional.

1980’s
Watches take a step away from geeky functionality for Warhol-inspired pop aesthetics with the Swatch watch phenomenon.

1990’s
Junghans offers the first radio-controlled wristwatch, the MEGA-1. The correct time is always accessible through radio signals received from government operated time stations, giving it the same accuracy as atomic clocks.

2000's
Fashion watches get bigger and bolder, making a statement about the wealth, lifestyle, or personality of the person wearing it.

2012+
Smart watches come in vogue as an extension of smartphones and computerized personal assistants. They sync to those devices with Bluetooth technology and allow the user to access data, play games, playback audio, video, and listen to the radio, and do just about everything else that apps offer.  Cameras, GPS, SD cards, microphones, fitness trackers, even insulin pumps – the possibilities are endless.  Pebble, Fossil, Sony, and a model for Android users are some of the first popular brands.