a. Have a nice leisurely dinner at a white-cloth restaurant--call spouse and give him/her directions.
b. Make a quick stop at Applebee's--have kids head over after their baseball game.
c. Pick up Taco Bell--eat in the car or at home.
d. Prepare a complete dinner at home from scratch--clean up, do dishes and take out the trash.
It is not surprising that statistics on the foodservice industry reveal that consumers are selecting a, b and c more frequently. Foodservice (retail sales equivalent) is projected to be $501 billion for 2006, according to Technomic Inc. Restaurants (both limited and full service) and bars constitute 64% of this total, with the remaining 36% being distributed among smaller players such as retail, foodservice, healthcare, travel, schools and the military.