food service

noun

plural food services

1

a

: the activity or business of providing and serving food (as in a cafeteria or at an event)

It is unclear whether the [Museum of Fine Arts] plans to continue offering dining and event catering after July 1, or whether it intends to bring food service in-house or contract with a new vendor.

—Dallas Gagnon

Anyone who has worked in food service understands how quickly operations can unravel during a rush.

—Ken Corbit

… by the 1950s, food service was one of the leading retail industries in the United States …

—Dorothy Sue Cobble

—often used before another noun

food service jobs/workers

Most residential colleges contracted a food service company to feed the students.

—Michael Ruhlman

b

plural : the activities involved in the business of food service

Several recent investigations have revealed that cost-cutting measures, such as outsourcing food services to private corporations …, have led to substandard food quality in prisons.

—Jeffrey Ian Ross

c

: a business that prepares and serves food

… a retail food service specializing in low-carbohydrate foods.

—The Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, Iowa)

The following restaurants and food services received perfect scores of 100 during their inspections …

—Kaelyn Cassidy

Overall, they see food services [=the food-service industry] as a large growth sector.

—Mary Ricks

2

: the serving of food

in-flight food service

Food service begins at 5 p.m. and goes until 7 p.m., or until the event runs out of BBQ and all the sides.

—The Mitchell News-Journal (Spruce Pine, North Carolina)

Examples of food service in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

To obtain the license, street vendors would need to pay a $500 fee every two years, receive a food service sanitation certificate and complete a health consultation with the Chicago Department of Public Health. — Zareen Syed, Chicago Tribune, 11 Nov. 2026

One late-October morning, in a large prep space hidden from view of the dining room, Hope the Mission senior director of food services Jason Moniz sprinkled salt onto oversized peanut butter cookies. — Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2026

Growth was powered by government spending, as well as accommodation and food service activities. — Lee Ying Shan,davis Giangiulio, CNBC, 4 Nov. 2026

The Costco Careers website listed a total of 27 positions, including pharmacy manager, optician, food service assistant, forklift driver and stocker. — Hali Smith, Idaho Statesman, 4 Nov. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1847, in the meaning defined at sense 1a