---
title: "The Best (and Worst) Places to Open a Restaurant"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/622baac8-13dc-4975-bb12-0f17c59ba0ac
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/the-best-and-worst-places-to-open-a-restaurant-2708340
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2018-11-02T13:08:28.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:32:50.890Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/bb1544c467cae425bc151621b494f6809725.jpg
---

# The Best (and Worst) Places to Open a Restaurant

**TL;DR:** LendingTree analyzed the 50 largest U.S. cities to identify the best and worst places to open a restaurant. Milwaukee leads as the most promising city, while New York is one of the least promising.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-11-02. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/the-best-and-worst-places-to-open-a-restaurant-2708340).*

## Story

In an unforgiving industry, restaurateurs are up against a lot when embarking on an entrepreneurial endeavor, city of operation included. In an effort to identify where prospective restaurateurs have the best shot at success, financial service company LendingTree analyzed the 50 largest U.S. cities, factoring average estimated annual revenue, estimated payroll costs per employee and several demographic parameters into its study to determine the best and worst places to open a restaurant.

According to the study, **Milwaukee** leads the way as far as promise is concerned, followed by Cincinnati and Minneapolis. Topping the list of least promising cities to open a restaurant, unsurprisingly, are **New York** and San Francisco, followed by New Orleans in the third-worst spot.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- new york (location)
- restaurant expansion (topic)
- Milwaukee (location)
- cincinnati (location)
- San Francisco, California (location)
- New Orleans (location)
- Minneapolis (location)
- location analysis (topic)
- demographic parameters (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/the-best-and-worst-places-to-open-a-restaurant-2708340). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/622baac8-13dc-4975-bb12-0f17c59ba0ac).