Before reading this content, we recommend that you read our History of the Food and Beverage Industry content to remember the processes that the food and beverage industry has gone through throughout history to reach its present position.
We can use the table below in the classification of food and beverage businesses.

Food and Beverage Businesses by Purpose
Commercial Food and Beverage Businesses
Commercial catering businesses are organizations where customers’ eating and drinking needs are provided and profits are made. Examples of commercial food and beverage businesses such as restaurants, snack bars, cafes, fast food restaurants, businesses in the shopping centre, food buffets, catering businesses can be given.
Non-Commercial Food and Beverage Businesses
In non-commercial food and beverage businesses, eating and drinking is not the main purpose, but within the scope of supportive service. These non-profit food and beverage businesses; It consists of industrial enterprises or institutions such as factories, hospitals and schools, universities, military, prisons and nursing homes.
Food and Beverage Businesses According to the Market
Food and Beverage Businesses for a Limited Market
Food businesses for a limited market appeal to specific and narrower customer groups. These businesses consist of businesses operating for transportation networks and stopovers (businesses that provide food and beverage services in highways, railways, airlines and seaways), food and beverage businesses within clubs and food and beverage businesses that provide services within the institutions.
Food and Beverage Businesses According to the Whole Market
According to some sources, businesses operating to serve the entire market are divided into two as catering businesses that provide services within the accommodation business or independently. In some sources, chain food and beverage businesses are added to these and are classified in three classes. Businesses that provide services independently are not under another business; restaurants, cafes, bars and businesses that offer fast food service are can be shown as an example for the independent businesses. Food and beverage businesses operating within the accommodation establishments meet the eating and drinking needs of the customers staying in the business. In order to increase profitability, food and beverage service is provided to guests staying at the hotel and coming from outside the hotel. In recent years, accommodation businesses offer different services. The most important of these are banquet organizations. These organizations can be classify as congresses and conferences, special entertainment such as weddings, special days such as New Year’s Eve and birthdays, business lunches, official protocol efforts and meals served for similar reasons.
Food and Beverage Businesses by Ownership Structure
Proprietary Food and Beverage Enterprises
They are businesses managed by a private person or persons whose main purpose is to profit. These businesses can be independent as well as chain businesses.
Food and Beverage Businesses in Public Institutions
The establishment and operation of publicly owned food and beverage businesses are businesses run by public institutes. These businesses are businesses that provide food and beverage services for social benefit as well as profit. Corporate catering businesses provide food and beverage services for people in the institution. To this type of businesses; Institutions such as universities, hospitals, armed forces can be given as examples. These businesses can be both non-commercial and public enterprises.
Food and Beverage Businesses with Combined Business Structure
Food and beverage enterprises with combined business structure are generally commercial enterprises where the physical area belongs to the state and the business activities are carried out by private persons. Food and beverage businesses in this content have a mixed structure due to reasons such as not being able to be sold to people the place where the business is physically located, the state does not want to deal with business activities and also state want the business could carried by experts.
Food and Beverage Businesses by Service Capacity
Food and beverage businesses according to their size; It is classified as small, medium and large. Businesses are generally categorized according to the number of tables, chairs. If there are 100 tables or more than 400 chairs, they are considered as large enterprises, if there are 20 to 100 tables, medium-sized enterprises, if there are less than 20 tables, they are considered as small-scale enterprises.
According to another sources, it is classified as 0-50 chairs: small restaurant, 50-100 chairs: medium size restaurant and over 100 chairs: large restaurant. On the other hand, businesses are generally based on a classification made in Turkey in the Official Gazette of micro, small and medium-sized businesses are classified as. Micro business; are enterprises that employ less than ten employees per year and whose annual net sales revenue does not exceed three million Turkish liras. Small business; are enterprises that employ less than fifty employees per year and whose annual net sales revenue does not exceed 25 million Turkish lira. Medium business; Less than two hundred employees, annual employs fifty people and annual net sales revenue of the company are not exceeding the 125 million Turkish lira (Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey, 2018).
Food and Beverage Businesses According to Service Types
A la carte restaurants; It is a type of business where customers make their choices from the menu and the food is prepared in a certain time after the customer’s selection and served to the customers’ tables.
Table d’hote restaurants; They are food and beverage businesses where a menu consisting of 3-4 different dishes is offered at a fixed price.
Self service restaurants; They are food and beverage businesses where customers buy their own meals in open buffets or cafeterias.
Fast service restaurants; They are food and beverage businesses where service takes place quickly. Famous fast food restaurants and cafes can be given as examples of these businesses.
Restaurants offering takeaway; They are food and beverage businesses whose main activity is to serve outside, with limited or no seating areas.
Businesses providing mass catering services (catering business); are businesses whose main activities are to serve outside, where the agreed tabldot menus are served in the areas requested by the customer. They are businesses that can deliver the meals they prepare in their own kitchens to the service point with special transport containers, as well as in the customer’s kitchens.
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