The restaurant industry is younger and more diverse than the overall U.S. workforce

About 12.5 million people are employed at eating and drinking places in the United States. Combined with an additional 3.2 million foodservice jobs in other sectors such as healthcare, accommodations, education, food-and-beverage stores, and arts/entertainment/recreation, the overall foodservice industry is the nation's second largest private sector employer (behind healthcare), constituting 15.7 million jobs — or about 10% of the total domestic workforce.