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The purpose of this paper is to analyze households’ acquisition of healthy food away from home (FAFH) from restaurants. Specifically, determinants of households’ decision to purchase healthy FAFH, the share of households’ FAFH expenditures allocated to healthy FAFH and the share of households’ FAFH calories obtained from healthy items are identified.

Using data from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey, the UK Food Standards Agency’s Nutrient Profiling Model is used to classify the healthfulness of households’ FAFH purchases. A double-hurdle model is estimated to identify determinants of households’ decision to purchase healthy FAFH and the share of their FAFH expenditures and calories allocated to healthy items.

Households’ acquisition of healthy FAFH varies with income, food assistance, FAFH purchase frequency, dieting, restaurant type, household composition, region and season. There is little difference in the impact of these factors on healthy FAFH expenditure shares vs calorie shares, suggesting that healthy FAFH expenditures proxy the contribution of healthy FAFH to a households’ diet.

Results suggest that increased availability of healthy FAFH may need to be supplemented by targeted advertising and promotions, revisions to nutrition education programs, improved nutrition information transparency and value pricing in order to improve the dietary quality of households’ FAFH acquisitions.

This study is the first to analyze household acquisition of healthy FAFH.

It is the objective of this paper to elaborate determinants of food expenditure patterns for the generation 50+ in Germany on the basis of an Engel‐curve analysis.

Survey data for Germany are taken from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE) database. Food‐at‐home (FAH) expenditures of the generation 50+ are explained within a multiple regression analysis first. Then, a double‐hurdle approach based on the probit model and a truncated regression are utilized for reproducing the existence of food‐away‐from‐home (FAFH) expenditures and the share of FAFH expenditures on consumption expenditures across households. Available information on socio‐demographic variables, income and the health status of the respondents are introduced as regressors in the multivariate analyses.

FAH expenditures in the generation 50+ in Germany follow the theoretical expectations underlying Engel functions. With a rising income level, FAH expenditures increase as well but the income share of FAH expenditures declines as does the share of FAH expenditures in total food expenditures. Apart from income, the share of FAH expenditures in food expenditures rises with age, household size, and it is highest for the lowest education level. Moreover, it is higher for West than for East German households. Becoming a pensioner increases absolute FAH expenditures, but does not affect the FAH expenditure share significantly. Very different results are provided by the Engel‐curve analysis for food away from home. A rising income raises FAFH expenditures, whereas becoming a pensioner lowers it. The age variable is insignificant.

The estimated Engel curves suggest that food at home grows less with rising income than food away from home. In particular, the determinants of the per‐capita FAFH expenditures reveal important determinants of expenditures of the generation 50+ in a highly dynamic consumption category. The results have important marketing implications.

Despite the growing economic importance of the generation 50+ in industrialised countries, empirical evidence on how this age group behaves in its food expenditure pattern is often lacking. This study provides a first set of estimated coefficients from Engel curves for Germany. These show how income as well as sociodemographic and health variables affect per‐capita expenditures for FAH and FAFH consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors influencing household food consumption away from home in Beijing by type of food facility and type of meal.

Derived from the Becker's household production and consumption theory, the authors econometrically specified household expenditure function on food away from home. Box‐Cox transformed double‐hurdle models were estimated. The data were collected in 2007 in Beijing China by the authors, using a diary‐based method designed specifically for this study.

Household income, time opportunity cost and other socio‐demographic and economic factors were found to be important determinants of household participation and expenditure decisions for dining out. However, the importance of these factors varied by type of food facility and type of meal. Meanwhile, the estimated elasticities with respect to income were correspondingly higher than those for developed countries, suggesting that the demand for food away from home by Chinese households is still in an upward trend.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to analyze Chinese household food consumption away from home by type of food facility and type of meal. Besides, this study uses an exclusive dataset collected from a seven‐day diary‐based survey. The data include more specific information on food away from home than the Urban Household Income and Expenditure (UHIE) survey data conducted by National Bureau of Statistics of China. The UHIE data were extensively used in previous studies on food consumption in China, but are believed to significantly underestimate food away from home consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of the socioeconomic and demographic determinants driving food away from home (FAFH) consumption expenditures at full service and fast food restaurants in transition Albania.

Using a nationally representative data set, this study estimates a system of full service and fast food restaurant consumption expenditures under sample selection framework. The system estimator exploits full information about the error correlations for gain in efficiency.

The results indicate that future growth of the foodservice industry in Albania will be driven by increased spending at full service restaurants due to rising opportunity cost of the food manager’s time at home, household income and years of formal schooling of Albanians.

The findings of this study can inform policy deliberations in designing nutrition and education programs for the Albanian Government to combat rising obesity rates. Moreover, the findings can inform marketing strategies by foodservice firms in Albania. On FAFH–obesity debate, future research can focus on the analysis of FAFH consumption expenditures on obesity rates in Albania.

Consumption of FAFH is fast evolving in developing and transition economies. Albania, a typical transition country, is no exception. Concurrently, Albania is under epidemiological transition facing increased incidence of non-communicable diseases and obesity. Any intervention program by the Albanian Government aimed at reversing the rising obesity trend by targeting FAFH consumption should be based on sound empirical findings. Analysis of FAFH consumption expenditures across different foodservice facilities is an under-researched topic for Albania in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to characterize food consumption outside the home and verify the existence of relationships between income, expenditure and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in adult individuals in Brazil.

Food expenditure data were used as well as those on the prevalence of overweight and obesity available in the reports from Family Budgets Research carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the years 2002-2003 and 2008-2009. In addition, the authors used the Kruskall-Wallis test to verify whether there were significant differences between the classes of income with respect to the average expenditure on food outside the home.

It was observed that the higher the income of the individual, the greater the expenditure on food outside the home. It was also found that the prevalence of overweight and obesity is higher in individuals who have higher income, particularly among men. Thus, it is suggested that the higher the income of the individual, the larger the expenditure on food outside the home and the greater the prevalence of overweight and obesity.

This study used spending on food away from home (FAFH), but the authors know that is need to use other variables like frequency of FAFH and quantities but this data were not available.

The study points to the importance of restaurants in the prevention of obesity, since they can offer in their menus foods with fewer calories, and they can also increase the variety and availability of fruits and vegetables.

The study discusses the public health problem, obesity, at the same time as it presents the importance of agribusiness in providing a balanced diet for individuals.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the determinants of per capita expenditures with disaggregate food away from home (FAFH) including variables such as family structure.

The authors estimated a system of expenditure equations (SUR method) with data from the latest Consumer Expenditure Survey of 2008–2009 – (or Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares – POF), considering the complex sample design in estimation procedures.

The authors found a positive relationship between woman’s opportunity cost of time and FAFH spending only when the authors considered the effects of wife’s education in higher income class. Hiring domestic help diminishes FAFH spending, mostly for lunch and dinner time meals. The presence of children in the household decreases the consumption of most FAFH categories.

Even though, Brazilian FAFH consumption has been increasing, the presence of women in the labor market seems to play a small role in the determining this type of food consumption. Family structure plays an important role in determining FAFH.

The contribution of the paper is to estimate FAFH expenditures at the disaggregate level and by income class for Brazil. The authors also included alternative family structure specifications as determinants in the model. The authors considered the sample design characteristics in estimation.

The purpose of this paper is to offer an overview of dietary transition patterns and a discussion of the food-related health issues in China.

The paper builds on a review of the existing literature on food consumption and diet changes in China, and highlights with specific attention to increasing food consumed away from home, the rising demand for fast and processed foods, and the popularizing of western-style foods in Chinese diets.

China’s food consumption patterns rapidly transitioned from one in which grains and vegetables dominated to one having more animal products and more diversification. More foods are consumed away from home and in the form of fast and processed. Income growth played and will continue to play a critical role in shifting the structure of food consumption. On the other hand, China is on a fast track from a lean population to one in which being overweight or obese. The associations between health outputs and food transitions, however, are inconclusive.

The main findings of this study have implications for better understanding the key trends and driving forces of China’s food demand system. Moreover, the results from this review are essential for food-related policymaking in many emerging economies where coexistence of undernutrition, deficiency of micronutrients and overweight and obesity is a common challenge to the society and individual households.

This chapter analyzes which factors influence adolescent obesity by separating nutritional factors of the food consumed from socioeconomic and demographic variables.

A general linear equation is utilized to model the results empirically. A descriptive analysis is also utilized to determine which foods adolescents consume.

The empirical results found that food at home and food away from home and calories have a similar positive influence on obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI). The evidence shows that mothers have a greater influence on adolescents’ BMI than do fathers.

The results offer insight on what factors may be attributed to obesity in urban China.

The purpose of the study was to further our understanding of in-restaurant family behaviors using an ethnographic study of families with children (at least one child from 2 to 12 years old) dining in fast food restaurants.

This study includes an unobtrusive, direct observational study of family fast food restaurant behaviour, including use of mobile technology, toys and indoor play area. Ordering and dining behaviours include field notes and enumeration of activity times for 300 families (450 children).

The food ordering process was rapid (<6 min), during which personal technology use was minimal, and adult/child interactions were perfunctory. Visits averaged 53 min, and only 18 min on average was spent eating. Families were observed using the fast food restaurant as a “third place” (home away from home) for many activities other than eating food. In-restaurant family behaviours included frequent use of technology (40 per cent of children/ 70 per cent of adults), use of the indoor play area (65 per cent of children/ 33 min of play) and child engagement with a toy (53 per cent of children/10 min of play).

Studying how time is spent in fast food restaurants expands the knowledge of current family eating behaviours and how young consumers behave in restaurants (i.e. with restaurant-provided activities, toys and indoor play spaces). Shifts in dining practices, from the intrusion of technology during the meal (technoference) to a decline in the use of restaurant-provided toys were noted. Dining visits now include many non-food activities, and the dining time in the restaurant was not a time for extensive family conversations or interactions, but rather a public home away from home.

This study empirically identifies household demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as restaurant characteristics that affect the probability of households choosing an ethnic restaurant (American, Asian, European, Mexican and other) in the USA.

A multinomial logistic regression model is applied using the data derived from the information from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey conducted between April 2012 and January 2013.

The empirical findings suggest that such factors as the unit cost on away-from-home food items (i.e. price), region of residence, primary respondent's ethnicity, race, education level, marital status and employment status as well as such restaurant characteristics as availability of loyalty program and presence of coupons significantly affect the probability of households choosing a particular ethnic restaurant in the USA.

The original dataset employed in this study does not permit the quantification of information associated with size, location, and number of years in operation for the ethnic restaurants considered. Also, the dataset does not permit the classification of the ethnic restaurants included in the “other” category.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, there has been no empirical micro-level analysis associated with determining factors impacting households' choice of ethnic restaurants using a polytomous logistic regression model allowing for a wide range of ethnic restaurants and covering the entire USA, based on an extensive set of household demographic and socioeconomic factors and restaurants characteristics. As such, the current study plugs this research gap, with the empirical findings furnished by this study being of importance to ethnic restaurant operators (owners) in the operators' effort to develop effective marketing strategies.