Types of Food and Beverage Industry: A Comprehensive Guide

The food and beverage industry is a vast and diverse sector, encompassing everything from restaurants and coffee shops to catering companies and food transportation services. Luxury restaurants, quick-service restaurants, full-service restaurants, catering establishments, and beverage establishments are just some of the many types of businesses that make up this industry. In this article, we'll take a closer look at each of these types of businesses and explore the different sectors of the food and beverage industry. Luxury restaurants are food and drink establishments where special meals with special presentations are served.

Customers in these establishments have high purchasing power and consider food as an activity. Their menus are usually advanced and rich, with a significant percentage of income coming from alcoholic beverages consumed with meals. The food and beverage industry includes all companies involved in the transformation of raw agricultural products into consumer food products. Commercial operators represent the largest segment of F&B in Canada, with just over 80% market share (Restaurants Canada, 201).

This includes quick-service restaurants (QSRs), full-service restaurants, catering companies, and beverage establishments. QSRs, formerly known as fast food restaurants, represent 44.4% of total food sales in Canada (Restaurants Canada, 201). These establishments generally serve both residents and visitors in areas that are easily accessible. Brands, chains, and franchises dominate the QSR landscape, though the industry has taken steps to move away from the traditional image and service style of fast food.

Catering companies account for only 7.9% of the total share of F&B in Canada (Restaurants Canada, 201). These companies provide food for banquets and special events in a variety of locations. Banquets refer to food served on the premises while catering generally refers to service outside the premises. At an event with catering service, customers tend to eat at the same time rather than being served individually or in small groups.

The catering experience has evolved to meet customer expectations for restaurant-quality food and service. QSR commercial companies, full-service restaurants, catering establishments, and beverage establishments account for just over 80% of the market share. The other 20% is made up of non-commercial companies such as those involved in logistics, transportation, storage facilities for the food industries, distributors and retailers such as grocery stores and supermarkets, public markets, e-commerce websites and grocery shopping apps, departments of government regulation for the food industry, academic institutes, consulting services, vocational training centers, suppliers of food equipment to other segments of the food industry, waste management companies, and more. Food production involves multiple levels of operation from cereal production to reaching the consumer's hands.

This includes sectors such as logistics, transportation, processing, marketing, distribution, packaging, retailing (grocery stores), public markets (farmers markets), e-commerce websites/grocery shopping apps, departments of government regulation for the food industry (local/regional/national/international), academic institutes/consulting services/vocational training centers/suppliers of food equipment/waste management companies. Food service industries serve meals and snacks to consumers for immediate consumption. This includes restaurants (luxury/quick-service/full-service), catering companies for banquets/special events/meal surcharges/restaurant-quality food & service/customer expectations met by event organizers coordinating with catering establishments; pastry shops; accommodation services; and more. With a deep understanding of food and beverage applications; a wide array of advanced materials that have proven their effectiveness in this industry; and the experience needed to customize parts for unique challenges; TriStar is the perfect long-term partner for your food and beverage business.

Joanne Wohlfahrt
Joanne Wohlfahrt

Wannabe bacon junkie. Wannabe writer. Coffee enthusiast. Total zombie practitioner. Infuriatingly humble social media scholar.