Tao Asian Bistro is No. 1 on the list of Highest-Grossing Independent Restaurants for The Third Consecutive Year

CHICAGO, Nov. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Restaurant Business magazine has released its annual ranking of the top 100 Independent Restaurants, an important benchmark for industry operators that highlights the highest-grossing non-chain restaurant concepts in the U.S. There were a dozen newcomers to the list, including Beauty and Essex in New York City and Acme Feed & Seed in Nashville. These new restaurants and the list's returning giants all serve as a reminder that being nimble, resilient, and thoughtful about both customers and employees is a formula fit for the difficult times.

Despite the many issues facing restaurants today, Tao Asian Bistro in Las Vegas continues to top the list with a total food and beverage revenue of $47,941,106 in 2015, up from $47 million in 2014. Tao operates three additional restaurants that landed in the top 11 spots, which include Tao Downtown at No. 3 with $33,822,962, Lavo New York at No. 6 with $27,508,162, and Tao Uptown at No. 11 with $23,357,631.

"In many ways, by going back to the basics—empowering and nurturing employee ambassadors, finding new ways to operate lean and connecting with their communities—these restaurants are standing strong amid challenging times for the industry," says Sara Rush Wirth, managing editor of Restaurant Business.

Revenues for independents in the Top 100 ranking ranged from Timberline Steaks and Grille with $12,150,000 to Tao Asian Bistro with its nearly $48 million. Restaurants in this year's Top 100 Independents list had total food and beverage revenues of roughly $1.8 billion in 2015. It's an important number to focus on, especially with chain restaurants' current state of decreasing sales.

Furthermore, New York City and Las Vegas are home to nearly half of these Independent restaurants. New York City dominates other cities with 30 restaurants making the rank and Las Vegas is home to 15 more of the restaurants.

The Top 10 Independents and their 2015 revenues are as follows:

*RB estimate

The full Top 100 Independents feature is published in the October 2016 issue of Restaurant Business magazine. To view more restaurants on the ranking, visit: http://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/special-reports/top-100-independents.

About Restaurant Business

Restaurant Business is the leading media brand in the commercial foodservice industry, with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation and growth. Through its monthly print magazine and website RestaurantBusinessOnline.com, Restaurant Business concisely shows growth-minded restaurateurs how to capitalize on trends, new concepts, changes in consumer tastes, new purchasing strategies and peers' best practices. The editors track ideas and trends as they develop within key channel segments including high volume independents, multiunit operators, emerging chains, the top 100 chains plus their leading franchisees.

Visit RestaurantBusinessOnline.com for more information.

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