Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Food Service Market research report by the US Department of Agriculture, January 2000. The changing demographics in Turkey has brought the rapid development of two niche sectors - fast food and institutional food service. Both have boomed in the last few years, but the traditional restaurant still dominates the overall sector. The total number of restaurants in Turkey as of 1998 was about 45,000. The number of foreign cuisine restaurants has now reached 200-250.
Turkish people are open to new tastes.
Italian, French and Far Eastern cuisines are particularly popular. Foreign cuisine restaurants procure their imported items either through importers or wholesalers. In the case of urgent or specialty needs, hypermarkets are used. A few international chains, like TGI Fridays, import directly. The main import items are wine, beer, fish products, specialty cheeses, sauces and pastry, and staple items like corn, rice, etc.