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The world counts millions of restaurants, cafés and bars. Restaurants are more locally based than hotels. Except for a few exclusive places and international chains, they are all part of the local environment. Globalization and individualism have not left restaurants untouched, however. Furthermore, restaurants increasingly seek to differentiate and market their business by way of the Internet and other channels in order to meet a growing competition and pressure on profits. People want more and higher quality than they previously did and many customers can afford it. An increasing number of people look for gastronomic or cultural experiences when they visit a restaurant or café.

Restaurants, cafés and bars are the last link in the food and beverage chain. Generally speaking, they reflect the national culture of food and drinking. Food and beer and sometimes wine, however, were often domestically produced. As a consequence of internationalization and even more globalization, some countries have been able to export their food and drinking culture. World wide people have adopted Italian pizzas and spaghetti and most countries house several McDonalds and Burger King restaurants, meeting an increasing demand for fast-food. You find Irish pubs in most cities of the world, and the French have paved the way for an international wine drinking and dining culture. From France and Italy, the café has spread to the rest of the developed world, sometimes in the form of an international café chain such as American Starbucks.⁹⁷

Within restaurants, cafés and bars, consolidation is progressing by way of chains. The global expansion of McDonalds and Starbucks are two obvious examples. In the pub industry, large breweries have taken control, creating vertical backward links. Hotel chains have restaurants of their own, too. Except for international chains, economies of scale are primarily seen in the catering business. Still, small independent restaurants, cafés and bars dominate in developed countries, even in the US.

The United States house about one million restaurants, cafés and bars. Three out of four of these companies are independent units. In 2007, they had total revenues of circa $500 billion.⁹⁸ Including sub-suppliers of the food and beverage industry and other industrial providers, the economic effects of restaurants were to be trebled. Total US restaurant revenues have grown tenfold since 1970 and doubled during the past decade. More and more the Americans eat out. Half a century ago, they used only a quarter of their food and drink spending in restaurants. By 2007, this share doubled and meanwhile people became more affluent.

Western Europe embraces about one million restaurants, cafés and bars.⁹⁹ In 2007, they had total revenues of about $350 billion. American hotel chains and restaurant chains are spreading continuously throughout Europe, including some European chains. Outsourcing has fuelled the catering business even more.

World wide, the restaurant, café and bar industry market is about $1,500 billion, of which only a minor share may be assigned to tourism.