Guide › Restaurant leads
Industry guide · Restaurants
How to find restaurant leads in any city
Restaurants are the biggest local market there is, with about 255 for every 100,000 residents, and the busiest: they open, change hands and close all the time. Here’s how to list every restaurant in a city, catch new openings before your competitors do, and reach owners at a moment they can talk.
Short answer: Start with your city or county’s food inspection data, which lists nearly every licensed restaurant, then add Google Maps, Yelp and delivery apps to see which are open, busy and online. For new openings, watch health permits and liquor license applications. About 37% of US restaurants publish an email address and 89% list a phone number. A database such as Retaileads exports every restaurant in a city, with its contact details, in one CSV.
Who sells to restaurants
- POS, online ordering, reservations and delivery platforms;
- food and beverage distributors, and specialty suppliers (coffee, bakery, produce, wine and beer);
- linen, uniforms, pest control, grease-trap and hood cleaning, equipment repair;
- payroll, scheduling and staffing;
- marketing, social media and food photography;
- insurance, equipment financing and merchant services.
Restaurants in numbers
| US restaurant listings | 859,064 |
|---|---|
| With a public email address | 321,200 (37%) |
| With a phone number | 89% |
| With a website | 79% |
| Per 100,000 residents | about 255 |
| In a city of 500,000 | about 1,260, 470 with an email |
| NAICS codes | 722511 Full-Service Restaurants 722513 Limited-Service Restaurants 722515 Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars 722410 Drinking Places |
Where to find every restaurant in a city
1. Health inspection and food permit data
Every restaurant needs a food-service permit from the city or county health department, and many publish their permits and inspection results on an open-data portal. New York City’s restaurant inspection results and Chicago’s food inspections, for example, are both free to download. It’s the most complete free list, with names and addresses; filter by facility type to drop grocery delis, school kitchens and hospital cafeterias.
2. State liquor license lookups
The state alcohol board (such as the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) lists every bar and restaurant licensed to serve alcohol. That’s a good proxy for full-service restaurants, and new applications are an early sign of an opening.
3. Google Maps and Yelp
Fill in phone numbers, websites, hours, price level, cuisine and reviews. Search by cuisine and neighborhood in large cities, since a single search stops after a limited number of results.
4. Delivery and reservation apps
DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, OpenTable and Resy show which restaurants are already selling online, and which aren’t. That’s the main qualifying signal if you sell ordering, delivery or reservations.
5. Local food press
City food sites and newspaper “new restaurants” roundups track openings, closings and changes of ownership, often weeks before the listings catch up.
Catching new openings
A restaurant that’s about to open is the best lead in the industry: in the months before opening day it chooses a POS, suppliers, insurance, linen, payroll and marketing, all at once. To find them early:
- new food-service permits and plan reviews at the health department;
- liquor license applications, which many states require to be posted publicly;
- building permits for restaurant build-outs on the city’s permit portal;
- “coming soon” signs, new Instagram accounts and hiring posts for a restaurant with no reviews yet.
Independents, groups and franchises
Franchise locations often have to use the brand’s approved POS, suppliers and marketing, so the local manager can’t buy from you; sell to the franchisor instead. Independent restaurants and small local groups (two to ten locations under one owner) decide for themselves and are the core of most restaurant lead lists. Local services such as cleaning, repairs and staffing are the exception: franchisees often choose those themselves.
Who to contact, and when
- The owner decides at independent restaurants, and is often on site.
- The general manager runs vendors, staffing and day-to-day purchasing, especially at multi-location groups.
- The chef or kitchen manager chooses food suppliers and kitchen equipment.
Call or visit between the rushes, roughly 2 to 4 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday. Avoid lunch, dinner and Friday and Saturday entirely, and remember that many independents close on Mondays.
Signs a restaurant needs you
- Not on delivery apps, or no online ordering on its own website.
- A PDF or photo menu, wrong hours on Google, or no website at all.
- Reviews that mention a fixable problem: slow service, cold food on delivery, long waits.
- A failed or borderline inspection, which is public, for cleaning, pest control and training services.
- New ownership or a new concept in an existing space.
- Hiring heavily, often a sign of growth or high turnover.
Restaurants by state
Every restaurant in the biggest markets: restaurants in California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. Related lists: coffee shops, bakeries and bars.
Questions and answers
How many restaurants are there in the US?
Retaileads counts 859,064 restaurant listings in the US (November 2026), of which 321,200 publish an email address. That’s about 255 restaurants for every 100,000 residents.
Do restaurants have public email addresses?
37% of US restaurants publish an email address, 89% list a phone number and 79% have a website. Independent restaurants often use a general inbox or the owner’s personal address; catering and events pages are a good place to find one.
Where can I find a free list of restaurants in my city?
Your city or county health department’s food inspection data is the most complete free list, because every restaurant needs a food permit; many cities publish it on their open-data portal. Filter out non-restaurants such as grocery delis and school kitchens, then add Google Maps and Yelp for phone numbers, websites and reviews.
How do I find restaurants that are about to open?
Watch new food-service permits and plan reviews at the health department, liquor license applications at the state alcohol board (many states require a public notice), building permits for restaurant build-outs, “coming soon” signs and Instagram accounts, and local “new openings” roundups.
When is the best time to call or visit a restaurant?
Between the lunch and dinner rushes, roughly 2 to 4 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday. Avoid 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and evenings, and remember that many independent restaurants are closed on Mondays.
Should I sell to franchise restaurants?
Usually only to the franchisor. Franchise locations often have to use the brand’s approved POS, suppliers and marketing, so the local manager can’t switch. Local services such as cleaning, repairs and staffing are the exception, since franchisees often choose those themselves.
For the general method (sizing a city, finding emails, CAN-SPAM rules), see how to find local business leads in any city. Other industries: dentists and barbershops.