10 Things to Know About Restaurants & Bars
- There are more than 990,000 restaurant locations in the United States that account for some $683.4 billion in annual sales. —National Restaurant Association
- The leading cause of fire ignition for restaurants is deep fryers, ranges and other cooking equipment. Electrical malfunction is one of the most common causes of restaurant fires. — Insgroup
- Each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. —Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Outbreak data show that Americans are twice as likely to get food poisoning from food prepared at a restaurant than food prepared at home. A recent study analyzed “solved” outbreaks of foodborne illness over a 10-year period – those outbreaks where both a food and a pathogen were identified by investigators — and found that 1,610 outbreaks in restaurants sickened more than 28,000 people. In contrast, 893 outbreaks linked to private homes caused nearly 13,000 cases of foodborne illnesses. —Center for Science in the Public Interest
- The most common types of injuries for restaurant workers are sprains and strains, which account for one-third of all injuries reported by restaurants. Other common injuries include cuts, burns and bruises. – “A Menu for Protecting the Health and Safety of Restaurant Workers,” a joint project of the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley and Young Workers United.
- There are approximately 20,000 bars and nightclubs in the country. The U.S. bar and nightclub industry’s drinking establishments primarily engaged in the retail sale of alcoholic drinks number around 65,000, which generated approximately $20 billion in combined annual sales revenue, with the average establishment accounting for about $200,000. — Dun & Bradstreet
- States representing the majority of drinking places were: Wisconsin with 4,489; California with 4,449; Texas with 4,388; New York with 4,283; Illinois with 3,634; Pennsylvania with 3,572; Florida with 3,191; and Ohio with 3,201. Other significant states included Michigan, New Jersey, Louisiana, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington. —National Club Industry Association of America
- Around 60 percent of claims placed against bars and nightclubs are a result of assault and battery. The claims can range from customers or employees fights, to customers claiming that the security personnel in the bar or nightclub used unreasonable force dealing with them.
- The bar and nightclub industry consists mostly of small businesses, with few major operators and many being family owned and operated. More than 77.6 percent of establishments are small businesses employing up to nine people, and a total of 98.2 percent employing under 50 people. —U.S. Census Bureau
- Major sources of revenue for nightclubs and bars include beer (35 percent of sales), distilled spirits or hard liquor (30 percent), food and non-alcoholic beverages (20 percent), and wine (7 percent).— National Club Industry Association of America
