Eating out no longer is reserved for special occasions. Expenditures for eating out now account for 41 cents of every food dollar, up from 27 cents in 1960. Growth has been phenomenal. With growth, changes were inevitable --changes in the structure and organization of the industry, in food purchasing and ordering practices, in the mix of foods served, and in food marketing and distribution systems. _Such changes affect food producers, manufacturers, middlemen, and consumers. This report provides a framework for measuring changes occurring in the foodservice industry. It defines the industry and its many segments and describes a methodology for estimating the retail and purchase values of meals and snacks and the quantity of food moving through the industry on a market segment-by-segment basis.