CPI — Food Away from Home

## What this measures

Prices at restaurants, takeout and other food bought ready to eat. The Bureau of Labor Statistics price index for this item for all urban consumers, U.S. city average, seasonally adjusted, with 1982-84 = 100.

## Why it matters

Restaurant prices carry wages as much as food costs, so they show how labor costs pass into prices. They rarely fall.

## How to read it

The level of an index means little on its own. Read the change from a year earlier, and compare it with overall CPI (fred_cpi) to see whether this item is running hotter or cooler than prices in general.

## What it does not say

It measures prices, not spending: if people buy less of something because it got dearer, this index does not show that. The BLS adjusts for quality changes, so it is not the same as the sticker price.

## Source

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index, series CUSR0000SEFV. Palanor pulls it from the FRED API (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) nightly. Bureau of Labor Statistics data are in the public domain.