Five Important Facts from Austin’s State of the Food System Report

Austin’s Office of Sustainability released the State of the Food System Report this week. It took an in-depth look at the full cycle and impact of food in the city, from production to consumption. Case studies include Bryce Gilmore's transformation of Odd Duck from food trailer to restaurant while still focusing on using local food. Butcher shop/restaurant Salt & Time was heralded as a successful example of "start-up businesses scaling up to the national level." Here are five restaurant-centric facts gathered from the dispatch.

1) When looking at Austin’s food industry, the city made a total of $4.1 billion in annual sales and tax revenues. That ended up being 0.45% of Austin and Round Rock’s gross domestic product. Eating and drinking equals $1.98 billion of that amount.

2) There are about 1,000 food trailers in Austin.

3) The number of restaurants is six times greater at approximately 6,000.

4) Despite the city’s love of eating local, only "less than 1% of the food that is consumed in Travis County is produced locally," unfortunately.

5) There are 23 urban farms in the city, which provide produce to local restaurants like Qui, Eden East, Dai Due, and many more. According to the report, there are "more private urban farms than any city its size in the country."