Top 100
Independents

Restaurants in this year’s Top 100 Independents ranking brought in about the same in food and beverage revenues as they did the prior two years—$1.8 billion. The number may be the same, but the operating atmosphere definitely was not. Independents faced challenges in labor, real estate and more, all while still competing for consumers’ dollars. Those winning in the tough, competitive market found the key to staying afloat was delivering on the promise of an experience.

Meet the Leaders

Top 100 Independents: The Ranking

Click each concept to see more data.

Rank	Restaurant	Sales	Average Check	City	State	Meals Served
1	Joe's Stone Crab	$38,400,000	$87	Miami Beach	Fla.	325,530
2	Carmine's (Times Square)	$36,889,370	$37	New York	N.Y.	437,566
3	The Boathouse	$35,499,910	$43	Orlando (Disney Springs)	Fla.	831,375
4	Old Ebbitt Grill	$33,291,280	$40	Washington	D.C.	1,013,433
5	Lavo Italian Restaurant & Nightclub	$27,521,650*	$90*	New York	N.Y.	203,000
6	Smith & Wollensky	$25,474,000	$104	New York	N.Y.	268,583
7	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$25,167,986	$78	Chicago	Ill.	350,495
8	Balthazar	$25,100,000*	$87*	New York	N.Y.	530,280
9	Bryant Park Grill & Cafe	$24,700,000	$75	New York	N.Y.	403,429
10	Junior's	$23,661,885	$22	New York	N.Y.	914,513
11	Prime 112	$23,600,000	$130	Miami Beach	Fla.	204,100
12	Maple & Ash	$23,597,660	$85	Chicago	Ill.	241,756
13	Vandal	$23,537,850*	$84*	New York	N.Y.	209,480
14	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$22,860,000*	$83*	Washington	D.C.	286,440
15	Angus Barn	$22,787,000*	$72*	Raleigh	N.C.	313,910
16	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$22,642,000*	$89*	Chicago	Ill.	253,760
17	Komodo	$22,500,000	$97	Miami	Fla.	245,000
18	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$22,264,200*	$77*	Las Vegas	Nev.	260,000
19	The Hamilton	$21,898,952	$38	Washington	D.C.	639,759
20	Buddakan	$21,240,726	$98	New York	N.Y.	223,497
21	Bazaar Meat by Jose Andres	$20,827,800*	$114*	Las Vegas	Nev.	189,500
22	RPM Steak	$20,655,000*	$100*	Chicago	Ill.	204,000
23	SW Steakhouse	$20,622,500*	$142*	Las Vegas	Nev.	148,350
24	Gibsons Italia	$20,407,587	$94	Chicago	Ill.	229,887
25	Paddlefish	$19,988,000*	$46*	Orlando	Fla.	420,025
26	St. Elmo Steak House	$19,969,050	$93	Indianapolis	Ind.	220,000
27	Bottega Louie	$19,316,031	$37	Los Angeles	Calif.	384,843
28	Quality Meats	$19,247,000	$110	New York	N.Y.	168,730
29	Del Posto	$18,775,235	$194	New York	N.Y.	97,000
30	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$18,712,935	$78	Oak Brook	Ill.	269,345
31	Taste of Texas	$18,678,593	$52	Houston	Texas	369,819
32	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$18,656,075	$77	Rosemont	Ill.	258,323
33	Bob Chinn's Crab House	$18,495,904	$45	Wheeling	Ill.	587,078
34	Parc	$18,440,615	$59	Philadelphia	Pa.	446,080
35	Abe & Louie's	$18,312,207	$118	Boston	Mass.	174,130
36	Sparks Steak House	$18,230,000*	$100*	New York	N.Y.	206,220
37	Founding Farmers	$18,218,145	$36	Washington	D.C.	596,348
38	Mon Ami Gabi	$18,110,000*	$72*	Las Vegas	Nev.	307,440
39	Shooters Waterfront	$17,950,286	$56	Ft. Lauderdale	Fla.	407,925
40	Quality Italian	$17,754,366	$97	New York	N.Y.	172,366
41	Chicago Cut Steakhouse	$17,750,000*	$92*	Chicago	Ill.	206,000
42	Shaw's Crab House	$17,700,000*	$70*	Chicago	Ill.	266,700
43	Tavern on the Green	$17,600,000*	$76*	New York	N.Y.	255,700
44	Le Diplomate	$17,397,600	$51	Washington	D.C.	339,601
45	Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant	$17,349,238	$28	Coalinga	Calif.	530,000
46	Chops Lobster Bar	$17,264,000	$104	Atlanta	Ga.	166,000
47	Prime Steakhouse	$17,134,300*	$168*	Las Vegas	Nev.	110,300
48	Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn	$16,979,767	$18	Frankenmuth	Mich.	919,390
49	Rusty Pelican	$16,918,800	$64	Miami	Fla.	152,351
50	Swift & Sons	$16,756,886	$115	Chicago	Ill.	189,654
51	Beauty & Essex	$16,732,162*	$90*	New York	N.Y.	192,200
52	Grand Central Oyster Bar	$16,671,660*	$62*	New York	N.Y.	302,500
53	Junior's	$16,634,171	$22	New York	N.Y.	745,041
54	Lavo Italian Restaurant & Lounge	$16,594,100*	$92*	Las Vegas	Nev.	135,664
55	Original Joe's Westlake	$16,568,217	$37	Daly City	Calif.	457,341
56	Portland City Grill	$16,505,175	$79*	Portland	Ore.	373,327
57	Morimoto Asia	$16,451,250*	$68*	Orlando (Disney Springs)	Fla.	511,475
58	Delmonico Steakhouse	$16,400,000*	$100*	Las Vegas	Nev.	144,448
59	Keens Steakhouse	$16,264,000*	$96*	New York	N.Y.	175,680
60	Acme Feed & Seed	$16,112,545	$18	Nashville	Tenn.	678,664
61	Makoto	$16,066,385	$65	Bal Harbour	Fla.	247,450
62	The Rustic Inn	$16,008,134	$70	Ft. Lauderdale	Fla.	370,000
63	Zehnder's of Frankenmuth	$15,797,151	$16	Frankenmuth	Mich.	940,513
64	Prime & Provisions	$15,300,000	$110	Chicago	Ill.	140,000
65	The Lobster House	$15,300,000*	$42*	Cape May	N.J.	320,000
66	Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse	$15,200,000*	$57*	Chicago	Ill.	287,900
67	Jean-Georges Steakhouse	$15,000,000*	$118*	Las Vegas	Nev.	124,000
68	15th Street Fisheries	$14,976,000*	$67*	Fort Lauderdale	Fla.	341,500
69	Timberline Steaks and Grille	$14,678,671	$22*	Denver	Colo.	642,836
70	The Bazaar by Jose Andres	$14,558,000*	$100*	Beverly Hills	Calif.	145,312
71	Atlanta Fish Market	$14,508,000	$55	Atlanta	Ga.	273,000
72	Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar	$14,473,893	$31	Chicago	Ill.	426,274
73	Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House	$14,437,627	$72	Chicago	Ill.	189,491
74	Carmine's	$14,354,617	$36	Atlantic City	N.J.	137,331
75	Cliff House	$14,321,561	$63	San Francisco	Calif.	274,809
76	Junior's	$14,178,055	$22	New York	N.Y.	365,990
77	Virgil's Real Barbecue	$13,878,512	$31	New York	N.Y.	210,113
78	Tavern on Rush	$13,847,233	$75*	Chicago	Ill.	364,000
79	Franciscan Crab Restaurant	$13,737,593	$59	San Francisco	Calif.	260,000
80	Castaway Burbank	$13,707,300	$50	Burbank	Calif.	175,170
81	Rock Center Cafe	$13,554,000*	$61*	New York City	N.Y.	314,000
82	Paradise Cove Beach Cafe	$13,541,974	$37	Malibu	Calif.	357,122
83	Founding Farmers	$13,338,268	$38	McLean	Va.	392,353
84	BOA Steakhouse	$13,228,646	$105	West Hollywood	Calif.	159,544
85	Matt's El Rancho	$13,114,712	$25	Austin	Texas	524,588
86	George's at the Cove	$13,000,000*	$87*	La Jolla	Calif.	258,000
87	Farmers Fishers Bakers	$12,881,800	$37	Washington	D.C.	378,342
88	The Southern Steak & Oyster	$12,832,681	$42	Nashville	Tenn.	361,756
89	Beauty & Essex	$12,753,180*	$92*	Las Vegas	Nev.	139,100
90	Le Coucou	$12,732,236	$126	New York	N.Y.	96,606
91	Girl & the Goat	$12,704,138	$80	Chicago	Ill.	182,500
92	Carmine's	$12,676,686	$41	Las Vegas	Nev.	128,385
93	Scoma's	$12,523,000*	$60*	San Francisco	Calif.	292,000
94	Carmine's	$12,187,102	$36	Washington	D.C.	147,748
95	Farmers & Distillers	$11,890,409	$38	Washington	D.C.	359,605
96	Harry & Izzy's Circle Centre	$11,844,109	$65	Indianapolis	Ind.	110,000
97	Original Joe's	$11,841,187	$47	San Francisco	Calif.	252,180
98	Whiskey Joe's Tampa	$11,770,200	$40	Tampa	Fla.	270,766
99	Founding Farmers	$11,636,784	$35	King of Prussia	Pa.	394,297
100	Urban Farmer	$11,600,000	$79	Portland	Ore.	146,282

*RB estimate

Methodology

RB’s Top 100 Independents ranking is a measure of the highest-grossing independent restaurants. Only restaurant concepts with no more than five locations are considered “independents” for the purpose of this list (although it’s possible a restaurant that shares a name with a chain but is owned and operated separately would qualify, such as Smith & Wollensky in New York City). Rankings are based on gross 2017 food and beverage sales. Information was gathered through surveys. When data wasn’t provided, sales were estimated based on public information, similar concepts and other factors.

Did we miss your restaurant? If your operation had food and beverage sales above $10 million, we want to know about it. Please contact Sara Rush Wirth at swirth@winsightmedia.com to be included in the next Top 100 Independents survey.

Independents managing changeHow they do it

Steakhouse resurgence

Several newer steakhouses made the list for the first time this year, while legacy steak concepts managed to remain on, too. In fact, 31 of this year's Top 100 Independents are steakhouses. They deliver on what modern consumers are looking for: an experience. Here, a look at that experience within the walls of newcomer Swift & Sons in Chicago.

Top steakhouses

Top 100
Independents