by Derek Teed
April 2018
Back when the Bureau of Labor Statistics provided four-digit Standard Industrial Classification Codes (SIC) to differentiate industries, restaurants were not a service but a retail operation. Times change, and so do coding concepts. Restaurant codes now provide detailed data for older concepts such as caterers and newer concepts such as food trucks. Accommodation has always been a service. The surprise here is that casino hotels are coded as units of tribal or local government and do not appear in the charts below which are strictly privately owned.
Accommodation employment is heavily concentrated in Hotels and Motels - 72% of the total (see Table 1). The largest part of Food Services is, no surprise, Limited Service or fast food restaurants.
| Table 1. NAICS 72 Supersectors, Minnesota | |
|---|---|
| Industry | Employment 2017 |
| Accommodation | 34,872 |
| Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels | 25,109 |
While there are few communities in Minnesota that do not have a restaurant, the Twin Cities Metro Area has 59.7% of the state's fast food or Limited Service restaurants, 64.8% of Full Service restaurants, and 42.6% of Drinking Places or bars.
| Table 2. Employment for NAICS 72, Twin Cities Metro | |
|---|---|
| Industry | Employment 2017 |
| Food Services and Drinking Places | 122,953 |
| Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) | 4,655 |
| Full-Service Restaurants | 59,366 |
| Limited-Service Restaurants | 41,840 |
