The Top Earning Restaurants in the Country

Looking at restaurant ratings is always entertaining, and RESTAURANTS & INSTITUTIONS magazine has posted a few of their “top” lists for 2007.

TOP INDEPENDENT RESTAURANTS: Sure, the Tao nightclub at the Venetian in Las Vegas would rank number one – they have all those celebrities coming in at all hours of the night, dropping $55m in food and beverage sales (600,000 meals at an average $70 ticket does that). Tavern on the Green in New York comes in 2^nd, followed by Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach. Yes, there are the usual New York, Las Vegas, and Washington DC suspects… but here’s where it gets interesting: Coming in at #9 on the list is Fulton’s Crab House at Walt Disney World, with #12 being the Italian restaurant at Disney’s Epcot theme park. Yes, Disney’s Italian restaurant pulls in more money than Nobu sushi in Manhattan. In fact, four of Walt Disney World’s restaurants are in 2007’s top 100 in revenue.

You want more? Disney’s California Grill is the top 15 when ranked by alcohol sales. Whoever said that Disney was just for kids needs to get out a bit more.

CONSUMERS’ CHOICE IN CHAIN RESTAURANTS: It’s no surprise that In-N-Out Burger took the top spot in the burger category, as voted on by consumers. Same goes for Chick-fil-A and Starbucks taking the chicken and coffee categories respectively. The fun comes in with Cracker Barrel winning for family dining, and the real contender of Outback Steakhouse winning for steak.

TOP CHAIN RESTAURANTS: Also no surprise is that McDonald’s tops the list of highest grossing chain restaurants, widely outpacing #2 KFC. Web Watch is sure you could guess that the top ten chain restaurants are all quick-service locations, with the first sit-down chain on the list, Applebee’s, coming in at #11. What’s interesting about this list is to go through it and see which of the top 400 chains aren’t in your local area – that’s usually a good indication of what expansion possibilities there are.