State Data Shines Light on Florida’s Hospitality Industry
The Florida Division of Hotels and Restaurants (H&R) licenses, inspects and regulates public lodging and food service establishments across the state, which makes it particularly well-positioned to observe trends in the hospitality industry. Each year it is required to publish an annual report that, with some careful reading, provides key insights on the state of the industry. The full report is reproduced below and is also available as a PDF at this link.
“During FY 2024-25, the Division [c]onducted a total of 178,211 public food service and lodging establishment inspections to ensure sanitation and safety standards...”
There’s no need to check your rewards points — nobody visits more hotels and restaurants in the Sunshine State than inspectors from H&R. During the last fiscal year, its inspectors visited nearly 180,000 public food service and lodging establishments to ensure compliance with state laws.
Amid loud industry chatter about the current difficulties of launching and maintaining restaurants and bars, the state’s data provides an interesting perspective. The number of food licensees grew from 64,544 to 66,642 over the last fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2025 . As of October 26, 2025, that number has crept up to 67,545. Ten years ago, there were just over 51,000 such licenses reflected in the state’s records.
More recent data also shows a net growth of 812 food licenses over the first three months of FY 25-26 (July through September). This glimmer of hope is supported by a modest growth in plan review submissions, a key step towards opening for many new eateries, over the last fiscal year.
Tourism and hospitality have long been leading components of Florida’s economy. To be clear, a growth in licensed establishments does not contradict some of the challenges that existing operators have pointed out publicly and privately. Industry participants will have to hope that the silver lining in the data eventually turns into a consistent string of sunny days.
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