Since 2009, Restaurant Prices Have Generally Risen Faster Than Grocery Store Prices

Food price analysis often focuses on foods purchased from grocery stores and other retailers for preparation at home (food at home). However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2015 Consumer Expenditure Survey, nearly half (43 percent) of the average American’s food expenditures is spent on food prepared by sit-down restaurants, fast food establishments, sandwich shops, and other eating places (food away from home).

In general, food-away-from-home prices rise more consistently year to year than food-at-home prices. A price index that compares prices for a set “basket” of goods to a base period can be used to show the average change in prices over time. Charting the Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) for food away from home and for food at home since the base period, 1982-84, shows that over time, prices for food away from home and food at home trended upward at a fairly consistent rate until 2009. From 1984 to 2008, prices for both sectors rose at an average rate of 3.1 percent per year.

More recently, however, food-away-from-home prices have been rising faster than food-at-home prices. Food-away-from-home prices grew at an average annual rate of 2.5 percent between 2009 and 2016, versus food-at-home prices, which rose at an average rate of 1.4 percent per year over the same time period.

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