Point of view: In the United States, out-of-home consumption is an increasingly important part of household budgets

Despite persistent food inflation in 2023, US household spending on food has increased, mainly in the out-of-home catering sector. This growth can be explained in particular by the increase in incomes and the excess cash accumulated during the pandemic period.

In 2023, food spending by US consumers increased by 7.5% compared to 2022, while food inflation stood at 5.0% year-on-year, compared to 11.4% in 2022. This rise in food spending is mainly due to the increase in out-of-home spending (+12%), while in-home spending has only risen by 1.8%. Consumer spending on restaurants has been on the rise for several decades. It accounted for 58.5% of total food expenditure in 2023, outstripping expenditure at home (41.5%) for the third year running. The increase in the share of food expenditure is not directly proportional to the quantity of food purchased, due to the ‘service’ dimension of out-of-home spending. However, this difference reflects a change in consumer