Restaurant Density Analysis

I am working on a research paper on restaurants in New York and I am quite pleased with this paragraph I wrote, along with its surprising facts:

The New York City Department of Health lists more than 20,000 restaurants on its “Restaurant Inspection Information” web site. In a city of more than 8 million people that amounts to one restaurant for every 400 people. New York City’s area of about 305 square miles gives a restaurant density of 65 restaurants per square mile – greater than the population density per square mile of Vermont, Minnesota and Colorado and 17 other states. This density of dining establishments in the city has created stiff competition and presents many marketing challenges to stand out and succeed but also serves as a hotbed of opportunity for restaurant concepts so unique that they couldn’t take off anywhere else.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The city's stats (estimate: 20,000) include all sorts of venues, including any company cafeteria down to the smallest establishment, any takeout shop, bodegas, convenience stores & markets, any bar serving food or light apps but primarily a bar/lounge, etc. The number you are using is quite exaggerated when it comes to how many places one would define as a "restaurant", so you should do further research, i.e., brick by brick building up to a useful number starting with phone books or online listings (eliminating the non-restaurants) before reaching your "self-pleasing" but probabably inaccurate conclusions.