Consumers continue to spend money on eating out, with the food service industry set to grow by US$114 billion globally in the next three years, reported research company Datamonitor.

The largest food industry growth has been found in China, Ukraine, India and United Arab Emirates (UAE). An annual 10% increase in eating out spend is expected across China and UAE until 2013. There are predictions that 1 million new food outlets will be opened over the next three years, with 500,000 of them expected to open in China.

On the other hand, the US food service industry is in decline, with consumers predicted to spend 0.25% less on eating out over the next three years. The Japanese food industry is also weak, but is still anticipated to record growth of 0.35%.

Kaustav Ray, managing analyst at Datamonitor commented on the findings: “Our research has revealed a picture of overall growth across food services, but not all markets are doing well. For instance, the food service industry in the US faces a difficult time over the next three years as the economy continues to recover from the recession. However consumers in countries like the UK who were also hit by the recession will continue to spend on eating out as the market is predicted to show moderate growth at 3.3%.”