Read and Translate Text 3 the food service industry

Eating and drinking places are big business. While much of this activity is local, eating and drinking are favourite pastimes of travellers, and the food industry will face difficult times without the tourist market. Travellers contribute about $ 73 billion to food service sales each year, whether for a coffee shop breakfast, a dinner on an airline, a sandwich from a bus station vending machine, or a ten-course dinner on a cruise ship. Travellers, including foreign visitors, spend more money on food than anything else except transportation, and travellers account for about one-third of the total sales in the food service industry.

The food service industry consists of restaurants, travel food service, and vending and contract institutional food service. Local restaurants are made up of establishments that include fast-food units, coffee shops, specialty restaurants, family restaurants, cafeterias, and full-service restaurants with carefully orchestrated “atmosphere”. Travel food service consists of food operations in hotels and motels, roadside service to automobile travelers, and all food service on airplanes, trains, and ships. Institutional food service in companies, hospitals, schools and so on, is not considered part of the tourism industry.

Over the past two decades, the food and beverage business has grown at a phenomenal rate. This has been especially true for the fast-food segment, with the franchising portion in this segment becoming the dominant growth sector. This remarkable increase has been gained at the expense of other food service operations and supermarkets. Franchisees control approximately three-fourths of the fast-food outlets, whose hamburgers, chickens, steaks, and pizzas dominate the fast-food business. Advantages of franchising accrue to both sides. The franchisee gets the start-up help, advice from experienced management, buying power, advertising and low unit costs from spreading fixed costs over large numbers of units. The franchiser has the advantage of a lower capital investment, rapid growth, and royalty income.

Fast-food chains have enjoyed great success in part because they limit their menus, which give them greater purchasing power, less waste, and more portion control, and, of importance to the consumer, lower operating costs. They are leaders in labour productivity in the restaurant industry.

Although the fast-food segment is the most rapidly growing segment, the high quality segment of the restaurant industry must not be overlooked. Much of this business is based on customers seeking a special or different experience in dining out. This demand has been most effectively satisfied by local entrepreneurs who emphasize special menus, varying atmospheres, and high-quality food and service. New concepts or trends include ethnic restaurants, especially those with an oriental or Mexican flavour, increased demand for health foods, fish, local produce and regional dishes and variety in portion sizes.

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) is the most important trade association in the food service field.

Notes

vending machine – торговый автомат

a ten-course dinner – ужин из десяти блюд

account for – составлять

institutional food – организация питания в ведомственных учреждениях

at the expense of – за счет к-л

accrue to – доставаться

outlet – торговая точка

units – (зд.) точки общественного питания

purchasing power – покупательская способность

entrepreneur – предприниматель