This Common Restaurant Name Has 80 Locations

Published: July 28, 2024 by 24/7 Tempo Staff

Naming a restaurant is no easy feat. It can be akin to naming a child, after all, to those in the restaurant business, their establishment is in a sense, their baby. Owners often look for something unique, a name that stands out to them as personifying what an eatery means to them. It can be a name that honors a loved one, or a family member (Dave Thomas called his fast-food chain Wendy’s after his daughter), and even be named after themselves, as is the case noted restaurant, Nobu, opened by celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa.

Opening a restaurant, especially the first time, is apt to give the proprietor a sense of almost parental pride. So choosing just the right thing to call it takes on great importance, after all, just like a child, changing a name after it’s given is extremely rare unless it goes along with a change in ownership. One of the simplest devices is simply to name a restaurant after yourself or somebody close to you, like Joe’s Place, Casa Juanita, or Mom’s Café.

Restaurant owners may give their business a name that suggests a homey atmosphere, which is where “casa” comes into play, whichever language you use. Casa is a home, as is Maison, which is prevalent in so many French restaurant names, like “Chez Andre” (a real eatery in Paris), which might be translated as “at Andre’s,” or “Andre’s House.”(If you’re in France to see the 2024 Olympic Games this summer, you can count all the Maisons you might find.)

Various sources estimate that there are somewhere between 140,000 and 155,000 single-location independent restaurants in the United States (the number rises if you factor in independent restaurants that have multiple locations). However original their owners might try to be, it’s hardly surprising that there is considerable duplication among the names of places that are otherwise unrelated.

To determine the most prevalent restaurant names in America, 24/7 Tempo reviewed a study of the subject conducted by Tinting Chicago, an auto and residential tinting and graphics company. The study considered Google review data for over 300,000 independent U.S. restaurants in the country’s 500 largest cities, ranking names on the total number of occurrences of the name across all non-chain restaurants nationwide. Only cities with at least 100 restaurants and 65,000 residents were considered.

The overwhelming majority of restaurants on the list are Asian, with more than three-fifths of the total — including the top nine — being Chinese. Perhaps refreshingly, only one of those has a punning name. (Whatever the name, or the cuisine, here’s a list of the one restaurant you should visit in each state.)

Here are the most prevalent restaurant names in America:

50. Wok N Roll

Flying wok ingredients - shrimp, vegetables, pak choi leaves, onions and peanuts. Asian food delivery. Chinese recipes. Wok preparation ingredients. Copy space — Several Chinese restaurants use the word “wok” as a pun.

Cooking style: Chinese
Restaurant count: 12 (tie)

49. Thai House Restaurant

Young Asian couple traveler tourists eating Thai street food together in China town night market in Bangkok in Thailand - people traveling enjoying food culture concept — “Thai House Restaurant” is a common name for eating establishments.

Cooking style: Thai
Restaurant count: 12 (tie)

48. Sakura Japanese Restaurant

Sakura Cherry blossoming alley. Wonderful scenic park with rows of blooming cherry sakura trees and green lawn in spring. Pink flowers of cherry tree. — Sakura is the Japanese word for “cherry blossom.”

Cooking style: Japanese
Restaurant count: 12 (tie)

47. Pizza Express

hands of colleague or friends eating pizza After a long meeting at office. They are having party at home, eating pizza and having fun. leisure, food and drinks, people and holidays concept