How restaurants fare on state's economic menu.

• Position: North Carolina - Industry Overview - Interview

Craig Galbraith is an associate professor at the Cameron School of Business Administration at UNC Wilmington. He specializes in hospitality management and in entrepreneurship. He got a doctorate in management and economics from Purdue and an MBA from San Diego State.

BNC: The fastest-growing restaurant states are out West - North Carolina tops the East. What's happening here?

A good analogy would be what happened in California 30 years ago, with a tremendous influx of the same type of people. Retirees, people from the Midwest, the New England states, semiretired people, the influx of industry and high technology into the area.

BNC: Any lessons that North Carolina can learn from California's obvious problems?

The hospitality and restaurant sector have to be considered an important part of the economy. And there has to be cooperation between the restaurant community and government on land use, urban sprawl, quality. There's a tendency to see the industry as low-wage, and it really isn't. There are minimum-wage people, but there are managers making good money and CEOs.

BNC: Of the top-10 states by revenue, North Carolina would be No. 3 in per capita sales, after Florida and Ohio. Why?

PROJECTED 1996 RESTAURANT REVENUES Ranked by revenue (in millions) Change 1996 from 1995 California $24,691 5.4% Texas 15,993 7.0 Florida 14,192 6.2 New York 13,808 4.0 Ohio 11,048 5.3 Illinois 10,921 4.0 Pennsylvania 8,851 4.2 Michigan 8,777 4.8 North Carolina 6,835 6.9 Georgia 6,738 6.4 Ranked by revenue growth (in millions) Change 1996 from 1995 Nevada $1,862 9.0% Arizona 4,762 8.5 Utah 1,686 8.0 Colorado 4,768 7.5 Idaho 1,125 7.1 Texas 15,993 7.0 North Carolina 6.835 6.9 New Mexico 1,924 6.9 New Hampshire 1,172 6.7 Alaska 636 6.5 Source: National Restaurant Association. Includes restaurants, cafeterias food stands, etc. One has a relatively affluent base of retirees coming here. You have industry moving into the state. And you have a younger, semiretired yuppie category, people that are 40 to 50 years old. They've worked in New York or another large Northeastern city, sold their house and moved. They're perhaps taking a job with less pay or starting a business, but they still have a tremendous amount of discretionary income. Also native North Carolinians tend to do things out of the home - an active lifestyle. Everything from eating out to camping, hiking and so forth.

BNC: What happens when people from different cultures move here?

You get a greater variety...