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Highest Grossing Restaurants


DonRocks

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Old Ebbitt Grill is apparently the highest grossing restaurant in DC, and one of the largest in the nation (their website says it's at #5, with $20 million in gross revenues).

I'm wondering, however, if other restaurants aren't nipping at its heels. I've heard from a reliable source that Mike's American Grill in Springfield was grossing $15 million at one point, and I have to think the Merrifield Sweetwater Tavern is grossing over $10 million. It would not surprise me in the least if Great American Restaurant Group is grossing over $100 million as a company (they are a private company, however, so this is not public data).

I think it might surprise people just how many restaurants are grossing over $5 million. I don't have any figures at hand, so I really can't be naming names, but there are more than just a few.

In terms of sheer size, some of the restaurants at the Southeast Waterfront are enormous, e.g., Pier 7 at the Channel Inn, but I can't imagine their revenues are anywhere near that much.

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I wonder how much a top grossing Cheesecake Factory does? Never been in one so I have no idea how big they are but the one in Marina Del Rey in LA was HUGE!

I have to think it's somewhere north of $10 million, no? This is a publicly traded company, so data is probably easy to come by. I think what pushes Old Ebbitt up so high is not just its enormous size and proximity to the White House, but the hours that it's open (also maybe private events which can be a substantial source of profits - restaurants love them, and I've known some to make an entire week's revenue from one large event on an evening when they're normally closed). I mentioned Sweetwater Tavern because I've been twice recently on Wednesday evenings, and it was completely full, to the point where we had to wait to even squeeze into a shelf (literally, a shelf, on the wall of the bar area) with barstools as seats - and this place is *huge*.

I wonder how Carmine's and P.J. Clarke's are doing in DC - the Carmine's in NYC makes a shitload of money.

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I believe that groups like Clyde's and Great American Restaurants are among the highest grossing in the D. C. area. Jackson's in Reston Town Center must be GAR's highest grossing restaurant. I'm guessing there are three or more turnovers a night with a lunch hour that runs from before twelve to after two. At two o'clock on a Monday they are still almost half full. On weekends the bar is full all day long as are the tables around it. Old Ebbitt is similar but larger. They both probably sell a fair amount of wine. Old Ebbit is also a definitive destination for someone from out of town: it feels like a Washington, D. C. restaurant should feel. It has character. And a location. I'l also bet that Clyde's in Reston Town Center is second within their group.

I'm also guessing that Carmine's has one less turnover a night, maybe even two although their per cap is higher.

I remember the ad that Jackson's ran for chef before it opened: $175,000 a year. Guaranteed. To give that kind of guaranteed salary you expect to do well. I would suggest that of all the restaurants in the D. C. area Jackson's and Old Ebbitt lead the pack. I believe that Fiola is in the mix as well, even with one less turnover. Could Fiola be number two?

I don't think any Cheesecake Factory does as well as several of the G. A. R. restaurants and Clyde's group. I just believe their average check is smaller although they may have as many diners. I also believe the wine per cap is lower.

I still say that if Estadio had opened at Reston Town Center it would have challenged them all. Eight, nine million a year is a LOT of money. Is Jackson's doing this? Clyde's at Reston Town Center?

Note: the link below notes that Jackson's is the fourth highest grossing restaurant, as of 2010, with $10.8 million in revenue.

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I wonder how much a top grossing Cheesecake Factory does? Never been in one so I have no idea how big they are but the one in Marina Del Rey in LA was HUGE!

I've stayed across the street from that Cheesecake Factory for more than 20 years (in the Marriott/aka Doubletree on Admiralty. My wedding night was there, too...). The Wharf a mile or so down the street does well. There's an Italian restaurant called the C & O a few blocks away which must do really well. Not that it is that good but rather there is a Carmine's like philosophy with huge portions and decently good food. And, I think, three dinner turnovers or more in a restaurant with 150 or seats.

Well, maybe 150 isn't enough for three turnovers. The Cheesecake Factory probably has 250...

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I used to know that info pretty well when I was leasing retail and restaurants, but that was a long time ago. There are some industry magazines, probably emags now that publish that info. I forget their names now. I think Old Ebbitt, and possibly another 1 or 2 of the real large Clyde's group were in the very high lists. Some of the Great American Restaurants were in those lists of very high revenue producers. Of course there are non chain restaurants that don't get reported that also kill.

I think Cheesecake was noted for humongous sales per foot. On the club side Club Love was one of the largest volume clubs in the country and that was pretty much all liquor.

Nobody really wants to tell you that info.

Years ago in the early 80's I leased a Mrs Field's Cookies at the corner of Connecticut and K. Only about 1,000 feet. I think it was running at the highest rent in the city at the time. But for the first five years of the lease, I knew from the Mrs. Field's people that it was one of their top 5 in the chain for profits. The store was open either 5 or 5.5 days a week versus 7 days a week as most of the mall stores. The difference in labor costs made it tremendously profitable for them.

Of course there are plenty of operators in DR.com. There the ones that know the bottom line. Of course if I were one of them I'd pretty much keep quiet about my results :D

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I will do some Googling later, but I recall an article I read a few years ago in a trade magazine that SEVEN of the GAR restaurants were among the top 50 highest grossing restaurants in the country. If I remember correctly, it was Mike's, Artie's, Carlyle, Coastal FFX, Sweetwater Merrifield, Sweetwater Sterling, and Jackson's.

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The average Cheesecake Factory is 8.8 mil according to their 10k. Whole foods market reports an average sales per store of $32 million. Given that I bet that the top grossing WFMs are around $100mil or three times average, the biggest CF must be around 24 million or pretty danged close to OEG.

Publicly traded companies have the right to report total sales and need not separate out sales except if they are multinational {because they ahve to report tax implication. So particular unit sales info is not generally available.

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Taking a quick glance at their 10K from FY 2012, Cheesecake Factory had $1.8 billion in revenues for 165 restaurants (151 under the Cheesecake Factory brand itself, 14 other restaurants, maybe other stuff?) so yeah they pull in some serious cash.

dean and I came to different figures but it gets the same general point across

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I remember the ad that Jackson's ran for chef before it opened: $175,000 a year. Guaranteed. To give that kind of guaranteed salary you expect to do well. I would suggest that of all the restaurants in the D. C. area Jackson's and Old Ebbitt lead the pack. I believe that Fiola is in the mix as well, even with one less turnover. Could Fiola be number two?

Do you really think Fiola is grossing this much?!

Just to put it in perspective, if you gross $10,000 a day, 365 days a year, that's $3.65 million. That would be 100 covers at $100 per cover.

$175,000 is an extraordinary amount of money for a salaried chef, but GARG pays certain positions very handsomely.

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I wonder how Carmine's and P.J. Clarke's are doing in DC - the Carmine's in NYC makes a shitload of money.

To answer my own question, I read that the Carmine's in NYC grosses $28 million a year. I have no idea about the one here.

Also, I found on an old press release that the DC Carmine's is DC's largest restaurant, with 20,000 (!) square feet (which includes a 6,000 (!) square foot kitchen) 700 (!) seats, and 9 (!) private rooms. Considering the neighborhood? That's impressive, and I suspect Carmine's kills the competition with private events.

I would have suspected that The Hamilton would have been #2, but their total square footage is a whopping 37,000 square feet (!!), although (almost?) the entire downstairs is dedicated to performance.

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Okay:

here is a source for big restaurants with big volumes: http://www.eatinglv.com/2010/04/the-top-100-independent-restaurants-2010/ total it up....and you have a lot of fat, drunk people ;)

This is from 2010 so it's a couple of years out of date. Still, it offers some real perspective. For the D. C. area Old Ebbitt is, indeed #1 with Mike's American Grill in Springfield #2 with $11.65 million. Third is Tower Oaks Lodge in Rockville and fourth is Jackson's at Reston Town Center. Both of these are slightly under $11 million with GAR's Coastal Flats in Fair Oaks #5 with $10.3 million. Two groups have the top five grossing restaurants in the D. C. area. Four of the five are in the suburbs-three in Fairfax County.

Old Ebbitt is doing their $24.5 million in 18,000 square feet while Jackson's $10.8 million is in 10,800 (that's a $1,000 square foot). Old Ebbitt's 1,000,000 customers is the highest of all 100 restaurants listed in the U. S.

No wonder Ted's Bulletin is coming to Reston Town Center.

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On ‎3‎/‎26‎/‎2013 at 5:21 PM, DonRocks said:

I'm wondering, however, if other restaurants aren't nipping at its heels. I've heard from a reliable source that Mike's American Grill in Springfield was grossing $15 million at one point, and I have to think the Merrifield Sweetwater Tavern is grossing over $10 million. It would not surprise me in the least if Great American Restaurant Group is grossing over $100 million as a company (they are a private company, however, so this is not public data).

Great American Restaurants group scores the number 3 spot in the Washington Post top workplaces 2016 survey for large employers.

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6 hours ago, dcs said:

Is it revealing my ignorance, unjustified elitism, or both that upon visiting their website it was clear I've never visited (or even heard of) any of their restaurants?

Based on their employee satisfaction, should I plan a visit based on expected service alone?

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