---
title: "Total Restaurants in the U.S. Down by 1%"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/aa68ba50-59ad-4472-9d54-c8cc64f23021
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/total-restaurants-in-the-us-down-by-1-2707636
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
published: 2018-08-24T02:21:36.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:09:03.768Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/24a56914ef5beb475eb036688a9190a24930.jpg
---

# Total Restaurants in the U.S. Down by 1%

**TL;DR:** The number of restaurants in the US has decreased by 1%, with a 2% drop in independent restaurant units, according to the NPD Group Recount census. The total number of independent restaurants was down by 5,719 compared to 2017.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-08-24. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/total-restaurants-in-the-us-down-by-1-2707636).*

## Story

The overall number of restaurants across the nation is decreasing. According to a recent article in Nation’s Restaurant News, a 1% drop was seen across the industry at large, bringing the combined total to 660,755 restaurants.

“The primary source of the decline in U.S. restaurant units was a 2 percent drop in independent restaurant units compared to a stable restaurant chain count,” the Chicago-based information company reported,” the NPD Group Recount census reported.

The total number of independent restaurants was down by 5,719 compared to 2017. Annie Roberts, VP of NPD, explained the the decline in units reflects the shrinking amount of traffic seen in restaurants over the last few years.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- Nation's Restaurant News (publication)
- industry trends (topic)
- independent restaurants (topic)
- restaurant count (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/total-restaurants-in-the-us-down-by-1-2707636). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/aa68ba50-59ad-4472-9d54-c8cc64f23021).