As determined by the PEOPLE
Does everyone know what time it is? It’s mid-March, so that mean’s it’s time for March Madness!
While everyone else is obsessing over college basketball, we at RevenueJump gush at the thought of reviews. What better way to determine America’s Favorite Restaurant than to have them compete head-to-head in competition without them even knowing it!
Here’s how it works. We divided up the country into two conferences, East and West. From each conference we then selected four geographically-separated cities to get some good coverage and make sure every area is represented. We then selected two restaurants from each city as our final contenders, giving us 16 restaurants from across the nation competing for the title of America’s Favorite Restaurant.
In selecting which restaurants to compete, we utilized some criteria. We searched for the best restaurants as indicated by the star rating and number of reviews on Yelp. From there, the best-rated restaurants for each city were hand-filtered, looking near the top for businesses that had roughly even numbers of reviews and ratings without being in the exact same niche (i.e. Mexican food).
The Competitors
| West Coast Conference | Name | Starting Stars | Starting # of Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division 1 - Boise | Fork | 4 | 594 |
| Goodwood Barbecue | 4 | 133 | |
| Division 2 - Santa Clara | Orenchi Ramen | 4 | 4237 |
| Cheesecake Factory | 3.5 | 1245 | |
| Division 3 - Spokane | The Flying Goat | 4.5 | 318 |
| Frank's Diner | 4 | 403 | |
| Division 4 - Colorado Springs | Shuga's | 4.5 | 512 |
| Phantom Canyon Brewing Co. | 4 | 487 |
| East Coast Conference | Name | Starting Stars | Starting # of Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division 1 - Columbus | Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace | 4 | 723 |
| Northstar Cafe | 4.5 | 709 | |
| Division 2 - Syracuse | Pastabilities | 4 | 381 |
| Alto Cinco | 3.5 | 269 | |
| Division 3 - Birmingham | Saw's Soul Kitchen | 4.5 | 255 |
| Highland's Bar and Grill | 4.5 | 159 | |
| Division 4 - Chattanooga | Maple Street Biscuit Company | 4.5 | 316 |
| The Terminal Brew House | 4 | 460 |
With 16 great restaurants now competing, week by week we will grade each match-up by the number of new reviews and their star rating on Yelp, declaring a victor as determined by their patrons.
Why does this give us the best and not some fancy food-critic with his own magazine column? This is like the People’s Choice Awards of restaurants. The nominations to compete are simply based on which restaurants are receiving the best ratings, with the overall winner being determined by which one of our sixteen contestants improves their online reputation the most during our time frame.
Week One Matchups
About Matthew Biss