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)

Word History

First Known Use

1847, in the meaning defined at sense 1a