Do not use the same restaurant prospect mix in every metro

Griffin Morris·October 12, 2026·2 min read

If you are building a restaurant prospect list, the local market should determine how much of the first list goes to independent restaurants versus multi-location brands.

In the October 2026 Main Street Index, Resquared compared active restaurant records within 25 miles of downtown across 25 metros. The share tied to multi-location brands ranges from 15% in New York to 39% in St. Louis and Charlotte.

That makes the multi-location share 2.6 times as high in St. Louis and Charlotte as it is in New York.

| Metro | Multi-location brand share | |---|---:| | St. Louis | 39% | | Charlotte | 39% | | Phoenix | 38% | | Minneapolis | 37% | | Nashville | 37% | | Dallas | 36% | | San Antonio | 36% | | Houston | 34% | | Detroit | 34% | | Denver | 34% | | Orlando | 34% | | Las Vegas | 33% | | Washington | 31% | | Tampa | 31% | | Austin | 29% | | Atlanta | 28% | | Chicago | 26% | | Philadelphia | 24% | | Seattle | 23% | | San Diego | 22% | | Boston | 21% | | Los Angeles | 20% | | Miami | 20% | | San Francisco | 17% | | New York | 15% |

The US and Canada benchmark is 31%, but copying that split into every metro would underrepresent multi-location brands in St. Louis and overrepresent them in New York.

This group is not limited to national chains. It also includes local restaurant groups and regional brands with more than one location.

For your first list:

1. Define the territory you are targeting.
2. Separate independent restaurants from multi-location brands.
3. Use the local market mix as the starting split.
4. Adjust it for the property, service or offer you are selling.
5. Track which replies become real conversations, then change the next list accordingly.

These figures describe which restaurants operate in each market. They do not show that either group replies more often or makes a better tenant.

Start with the restaurants your metro actually has, then let your own outreach results determine who gets more attention. Or use Resquared, which already has data on every local business in the US, to build the list.

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