Factors affecting out of home food consumption in Turkey

Today, changes in dietary habits, increase in labor force participation, increase in income and purchasing power, growth of urban population, decrease in household leisure time constraints, changes in cultural and social structure cause the share of out-of-home food consumption expenditures in total consumption expenditures to increase. Out-of-home food consumption expenditures are often overlooked, especially in food consumption analyses and poverty studies. Additionally, in the existing literature, absolute food expenditures are investigated, and it is observed that habit and continuity are lacking. This situation leads to total food expenditures falling below the expected level and underscores the need for out-of-home food expenditures to be analyzed not only in terms of absolute expenditure values but also with a specific focus on habit.The aim of the study is to investigate the factors affecting households' out-of-home food habits. In the study, socioeconomic factors determining out-of-home food consumption were analyzed using the logistic regression method with the help of the 2018 Turkish Statistical Institute Household Budget Survey data. According to the important findings obtained from the model estimation results; while the probability of spending out-of-home food consumption is high in married and female individuals, it is less in working individuals; As age increases and education level decreases, the probability of individuals to consume food outside the home decreases. In addition to demographic variables, the probability of consuming food outside the home decreases according to the increase in household size and the status of home ownership. In addition, variables such as access to shopping services, credit card ownership, internet shopping frequency and market habits were also found to be effective on the probability of food consumption out-of-home. The findings obtained as a result of the analysis are at the desired level of significance and meet the expectations according to the impact directions.