Spotlight: national food spending

Spending for Food Away From Home Slowed in 1996

Food spending in the United States rose to $691.2 billion in 1996, a 3.3-percent increase over 1995 (table 1). Total expenditures for eating out (food away from home) rose 2.8 percent to $316.4 billion in 1996, less than the 4.4-percent increase in 1995. Retail food expenditures (food at home) increased at the same pace as 1995, rising 3.7 percent in 1996 to $374.8 billion. Once adjusted for inflation, total food spending rose 0.1 percent in 1996 - food at home was unchanged, while food away from home rose, up 0.3 percent. The faster growth for food away from home in 1996 is not unusual in a nonrecession year.

During the 1990-91 recession, inflation-adjusted spending on food away from home declined 0.4 percent, while spending for food at home rose 1.3 percent. One of the ways people economized during the 1990-91 recession was by eating out less often or by going to less expensive places. The share of total food dollars spent away from home declined from 44.7 percent in 1989 to 44.1 percent in 1991, reflecting the economic slowdown and the subsequent recession.

But with economic recovery came increased away-from-home food spending. In 1992, 1993, and 1995, spending for food away from home rose faster than at-home food spending (in 1994, spending for both categories increased at the same rate). By 1995, spending for food away from home had reached new highs - 46.0 percent of food expenditures and 35.0 percent of food quantities - continuing the recovery that started in 1992. In 1996, the share of food dollars spent away from home dipped slightly to 45.8 percent. Vigorous competition among fast-food and restaurant chains held down prices and sales for away-from-home eating, and at-home sales increased more.

Food-Away-From-Home Sales Expected To Have Increased in 1997

Preliminary figures on food sales (a beginning point for estimating food spending) in the first 11 months of 1997 show spending returning to its previous pattern, with at-home food spending up 2.5 percent from the same period in 1996 and away-from-home food spending up 3.7 percent. Food sales exclude donations and food furnished to employees, patients, and inmates - all of which are included in the total food expenditures reported above. (Comparing 1996 with preliminary 1997, inflation adjusted food sales were lower, with at-home food spending down 0.1 percent and away-from-home spending up 0.8 percent.)

[TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED]

[TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 2 OMITTED]

Personal Food Spending Posted Modest Increase

Since the 1990-91 recession, personal food spending has increased less than most other major categories of personal consumption. Personal food spending differs from total food spending because it excludes expenditures by governments and businesses. Personal expenditures for all food rose 3.4 percent in 1996, while spending on transportation, cars, and gasoline went up 5.2 percent, and medical care and drugs increased 4.7 percent (table 2). Within personal food expenditures, there was a 2.8-percent growth in away-from-home food expenses, compared with a 3.8-percent increase in expenditures for food at home. Most food expenditures by governments and businesses (such as feeding prisoners, military messes, business travel and entertainment) is for food away from home, so personal food expenditures may behave differently than total food spending.

In 1996, 10.9 percent of a household's (families and individuals) disposable personal income was spent on food, down from 12.0 percent in 1985. Households spent 6.6 percent of their 1996 disposable personal income for food at home and 4.2 percent on food away from home. A decade earlier, Americans were spending 7.5 percent of their disposable personal income for food at home and 4.3 percent for food away from home. In 1996, Americans spent about 28 percent of disposable personal income on housing (including supplies, fuel, and furniture), 17 percent on medical care and drugs, and 12 percent on transportation (including cars and gasoline).

COPYRIGHT 1997 U.S. Department of Agriculture
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