Restaurant Pipeline FAQ

What is Restaurant Pipeline?

Restaurant Pipeline’s researchers identify restaurants preparing to open through business registrations, building permits, alcohol licensing, planning documents, construction activity and other available sources. These are sources used to identify restaurant activity before opening whenever possible, not stages that every project is tracked through one by one. The objective is to provide suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and service providers enough advance notice to contact prospective customers while purchasing decisions may still be taking place.

Why do companies use Restaurant Pipeline?

Many suppliers first learn about a restaurant after it has opened, when important purchasing and vendor decisions may already have been made. Restaurant Pipeline is designed to move that opportunity earlier by identifying restaurants before opening whenever possible.

Companies use the information for sales prospecting, territory development, market research and business development. Users include food and beverage manufacturers, distributors, restaurant equipment companies, technology providers, POS companies, financial services firms, professional service providers and other businesses selling into the restaurant and foodservice industry.

How is Restaurant Pipeline different from RestaurantData.com?

Restaurant Pipeline and RestaurantData.com are sibling sites with different research focuses. Restaurant Pipeline focuses on new and pre-opening restaurant activity, while RestaurantData.com covers existing restaurants, restaurant companies, franchise organizations, ownership groups and additional restaurant industry research.

RestaurantData has been reporting restaurant openings for nearly three decades. By using some of the earliest legal and public sourcing available, its research can identify a substantial volume of new restaurant activity. Recent weekly reporting can include approximately 300 to 350 or more locations, with some weeks exceeding 600. Restaurant Pipeline provides a focused way to use this new and pre-opening restaurant intelligence for prospecting and business development.

How early can Restaurant Pipeline identify a restaurant before it opens?

Timing varies because restaurants become visible through different sources at different points in their development. A significant portion of Restaurant Pipeline opportunities are identified within roughly 30 to 45 days of opening. Many are identified farther in advance, often up to about two and a half months before opening, and some opportunities surface even earlier.

Other restaurants may not become visible through reliable public or legal sources until closer to opening. Companies with longer sales cycles can contact Restaurant Pipeline about opportunities identified 90 days or more in advance and discuss the lead-time requirements of their particular sales process.

Where does Restaurant Pipeline get its information?

Restaurant Pipeline research uses numerous sources depending on what is available in a particular state, county or municipality. Sources may include business registrations, DBA and fictitious-name filings, LLC and corporate registrations, building permits, alcohol license applications, planning and zoning records, site plan approvals, construction information, commercial real estate announcements, local government records, restaurant company announcements, local and industry news, social media, restaurant websites and other public and direct research sources.

Different sources become available at different times. The objective is to use the sources available in each market to identify new restaurant activity as early as practical.

Why does Restaurant Pipeline use so many sources?

No single source identifies every restaurant opening in the United States. States, counties and municipalities publish different records, at different times and in different formats.

Using a large number of sources helps Restaurant Pipeline identify as much legitimate new restaurant activity as possible while there is still time for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and other vendors to take action. The objective is not to collect records simply for volume. It is to find actual restaurant openings early enough to be useful.

What kinds of building permits can indicate a new restaurant?

Depending on the municipality, building permits may identify new restaurant construction, tenant improvements, interior build-outs, kitchen work, drive-thru construction, renovations or other activity associated with a restaurant preparing to open. Building permits are not equally useful everywhere. Some jurisdictions make detailed permit information available early, while others provide limited information or publish records too late to be useful for pre-opening prospecting. When building permits are unavailable or do not provide sufficient advance notice, other sources may be used to identify restaurant activity.

How are alcohol license applications used?

Alcohol license applications can be an important source for identifying restaurants preparing to open. Applying for a license is generally a serious business step that can involve application costs, regulatory requirements, background checks and other legal obligations.

Depending on the jurisdiction, an application may also provide information about the business, ownership entity, proposed location or applicant. Restaurant Pipeline uses alcohol licensing where it is available and useful, along with other sources appropriate to the particular market.

Why are business registrations useful?

A business registration can represent one of the earliest legal starting points for a new restaurant business. Before construction is completed, employees are hired or a restaurant opens its doors, an owner may establish an LLC, corporation, DBA, fictitious business name or other legal entity.

These records do not prove by themselves that a restaurant will open. They can, however, provide an early indication of new business activity that can be researched further.

Do all restaurants reported by Restaurant Pipeline eventually open?

No research process can guarantee that every proposed restaurant will open. Projects can be cancelled, delayed, relocated or changed after they have been identified.

Restaurant Pipeline’s research and vetting process is designed to separate credible restaurant activity from speculation, duplicates and records that do not appear actionable. Based on reporting experience, approximately 98% of restaurant projects reported as openings do open, although circumstances can change after publication.

How does Restaurant Pipeline verify restaurant information?

Restaurant Pipeline’s researchers lead the verification process using the best information available at the time a restaurant is identified. Depending on the project, researchers may review legal filings, public records, company information, websites, news sources, Facebook, Instagram, Yelp and other available sources to verify the business and locate additional information.

Researchers also attempt to contact the restaurant owner or operator directly when possible. A phone conversation can help confirm that the restaurant is moving forward, verify information already identified through other sources and sometimes provide additional details about the planned opening.

Early identification also creates limitations. A new single-unit restaurant with no known affiliation may have no publicly identifiable owner, telephone number, email address or website when it is first discovered. Researchers may search multiple sources and still find no identifiable person or reliable way to contact the operator other than the bona fide address where the restaurant activity is taking place.

Restaurant Pipeline does not delay reporting a legitimate opportunity simply because every possible contact field cannot yet be populated. The objective is to identify credible restaurant activity as early as practical, verify and develop the information that is available, and give subscribers enough time to act.

Why doesn’t every restaurant record include every field?

The amount of available information depends largely on how the restaurant was identified and what public or other verifiable information exists at that point in time. A chain location may have an established company, website and corporate contacts that can be associated with it immediately, while a newly formed independent restaurant may initially have very little public presence.

Researchers look for additional information and populate fields when it can reasonably be associated with the restaurant. If there is no reliable information trail to follow, a field may remain unavailable rather than being populated with information that cannot be adequately supported.

Are independent restaurants included?

Yes. Independent restaurants represent an important part of Restaurant Pipeline’s new opening research. For Restaurant Pipeline purposes, an independent restaurant generally means a restaurant for which no known chain or larger company affiliation has been identified. That does not guarantee that no ownership relationship exists. An affiliation may simply not be publicly identifiable at the time of research.

The meaning of independent also varies within the restaurant industry. Some suppliers consider an operator with three, five or even 20 restaurants to be independent because purchasing and operations may still function much like an independent restaurant organization. Restaurant Pipeline provides the available company and ownership information so customers can apply the definitions most useful to their own sales strategy.

Are restaurant chains included?

Yes. Restaurant Pipeline identifies openings from emerging concepts, regional restaurant companies, franchise organizations and large national chains in addition to independent restaurants.

Chain-related activity has recently represented approximately 15% to 20% of new locations in many reporting periods. During stronger expansion periods, the percentage can reach 30% or more in a particular week. The mix changes continually based on actual restaurant development activity.

How often is Restaurant Pipeline updated?

Restaurant Pipeline publishes new restaurant opening intelligence weekly, 49 weeks per year. New and pre-opening restaurant opportunities are delivered by email and are also loaded into the Restaurant Pipeline module each week.

The module allows subscribers to work with the current pipeline while also looking back as far as six months. This gives users access to recently opened restaurants as well as restaurants identified during the prior six months that may still be preparing to open. For many sales organizations, an opportunity does not necessarily disappear on opening day because a recently opened restaurant may still be evaluating suppliers, services and other business relationships.

Can I get Restaurant Pipeline for only my region?

Yes. Restaurant Pipeline can be provided for a specific region, multiple regions or the entire United States, depending on a customer’s sales territory and requirements.

A regional sales organization does not necessarily need restaurant activity from markets it does not serve. Companies with broader sales coverage can receive multiple regions or nationwide reporting.

How are new and pre-opening restaurants delivered?

New and pre-opening restaurant opportunities are delivered by email each week and are also loaded into the Restaurant Pipeline module. The module provides subscribers with an ongoing working database rather than limiting access to individual weekly emails. Users can review current opportunities and look back through as much as six months of prior activity.

Can Restaurant Pipeline be searched by geography and restaurant type?

Yes. Restaurant Pipeline information can be organized geographically so companies can concentrate on the markets relevant to their sales territories. Depending on the subscription and available data, users can also work with restaurant characteristics and company cohorts to narrow the information to the types of opportunities most relevant to them. These can include independent restaurants, multi-unit operators, restaurant chains, cuisine and service-type categories, company size and alcohol availability where that information is known.

Is Restaurant Pipeline scraped data?

Restaurant Pipeline is not simply a scraped list. Human researchers lead the work, using AI to help find raw source material from more than 2,500 potential sources each week.

Finding that material is only the starting point. Our researchers review what the sources actually show, verify available information, investigate questionable records and add details they can support.

Duplicate checking and research remove irrelevant activity, unsupported information and repeated records, substantially reducing the initial volume before publication. Human researchers decide which restaurant opportunities and verified details belong in the weekly report.

Why is advance notice valuable to restaurant suppliers and vendors?

Restaurants can make purchasing decisions before opening day, including decisions involving food and beverage products, equipment, technology, POS systems, furniture, uniforms, financial services, insurance and other operational needs. Restaurant Pipeline is designed to provide enough advance notice for a supplier, manufacturer, distributor or service provider to act. The exact amount of time a company needs depends on its sales cycle, which is why some organizations concentrate particularly on opportunities identified 90 days or more before opening.

Who benefits most from Restaurant Pipeline?

Restaurant Pipeline is designed primarily for businesses selling products and services into the restaurant and foodservice industry. This includes restaurant and foodservice manufacturers, distributors, equipment companies, suppliers and vendors, technology and service providers, financial firms and professional service organizations.

Different companies use the information differently. A manufacturer may use it to support a distributor network, a technology company may assign opportunities directly to its sales representatives, and a supplier may use the information to identify new accounts within an existing territory.

Why do companies use Restaurant Pipeline and RestaurantData.com together?

Restaurant Pipeline concentrates on new and pre-opening restaurant opportunities. RestaurantData.com provides the broader market view, including existing restaurants and small, medium and large restaurant companies, franchisee organizations, multi-concept operators and other ownership groups.

RestaurantData also connects companies through ownership relationships that may include immediate parents, ultimate parents and other hierarchical relationships. This can help users understand not only an individual restaurant or brand, but the larger organization behind it when that relationship is known.

For companies selling into restaurants, the two resources address different parts of the market. Restaurant Pipeline helps identify what is coming next, while RestaurantData.com provides intelligence on the much larger universe of restaurants and restaurant organizations already operating.