| Industry Description | 2018 Jobs | 2023 Jobs | 2028 Jobs | Job Growth 2018 to 2023 (%) | Projected Job Growth 2023 to 2028 (%) | 2023 Location Quotient |
| Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 45,603 | 44,568 | 45,342 | -2.3% | 1.7% | 1.01 |
| Special Food Services | 2,499 | 2,152 | 2,276 | -13.9% | 5.8% | 0.74 |
| Grain and Oilseed Milling | 1,391 | 1,871 | 2,078 | 34.6% | -11.0% | 7.16 |
| Other Food Manufacturing | 860 | 1,167 | 1,389 | 35.7% | 19.0% | 1.12 |
| Dairy Product Manufacturing | 1,206 | 1,117 | 1,121 | -7.4% | 0.4% | 1.68 |
| Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing | 566 | 794 | 937 | 40.4% | 18.0% | 2.42 |
| Animal Slaughtering and Processing | 444 | 681 | 925 | 53.5% | 35.8% | 0.31 |
| Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing | 149 | 430 | 606 | 188.4% | 40.9% | 0.32 |
| Beverage Manufacturing | 1,324 | 429 | 506 | -67.6% | 18.0% | 0.33 |
| Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) | 445 | 415 | 380 | -6.6% | -8.5% | 0.25 |
| Top 10 Industry Total | 54,485 | 53,625 | 55,559 | -1.6% | 3.6% | |
| Food+Beverage Industry Total | 55,092 | 54,020 | 55,884 | -1.9% | 2.2% | |
| Industry Description | 2018 Jobs | 2023 Jobs | 2028 Jobs | Job Growth 2018 to 2023 (%) | Projected Job Growth 2023 to 2028 (%) | 2023 Location Quotient |
Shown in the table above, industries that comprise food and beverage processing are highlighted with historical, current, and projected employment. In addition to strong employment across a variety of industries, the Greater Memphis region hosts strong specializations within Grain and Oilseed Milling, Dairy Product Manufacturing, and Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing.
Note: Above industries reflect 4-digit NAICS industries within the Memphis TN-MS-AR Metropolitan Area. Employment estimates derived from Lightcast Q4 2024 dataset QCEW Employment.
Location quotient (LQ) is a way of quantifying how concentrated a characteristic of a particular region is compared to the nation. These characteristics could be an industry’s or occupation’s share of employment, resident demographic, online profiles or job postings. The LQ is the calculation that reveals what makes that particular region “unique” in comparison to the national average. For example, if an industry in Greater Memphis accounts for 2.5% of regional jobs but only 1% of jobs nationally, then Greater Memphis has an LQ of 2.5, which means that this industry is 2.5x more concentrated in the region than the typical region.
