Restaurant Business magazine’s annual list of the 100 highest-grossing independent restaurants in the country includes nine D.C.-area eateries, led by Old Ebbitt Grill ranked at No. 4.
Old Ebbitt Grill, one of D.C.’s oldest restaurants, circa 1866, had about $33.3 million in food and beverage sales in 2018. It has served just over 1 million meals, with an average check of $40 per diner.
Old Ebbitt Grill was No. 5 on the previous year’s list.
Restaurant Business’s list considers restaurant concepts with up to five locations to be independent.
Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab ranks No. 14 on this list, with over 286,400 meals served last year, at a hefty $83 per check on average, for nearly $22.9 million in 2018 sales. The D.C. restaurant is an offshoot of Miami’s Joe’s Stone Crab, which tops the list with $38.4 million in revenue last year.
The Hamilton is No. 19, with about $21.9 million in sales, an average check of $38 and almost 640,000 meals served.
Farmers Restaurant Group has four of its D.C.-area restaurants on the list. Founding Farmers in D.C. is No. 37. The Founding Farmers location in Tysons, Virginia, is No. 83. Farmers Fishers Bakers is No. 87. And Farmers & Distillers is No. 95.
Farmers Restaurant Group’s Founding Farmers in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, is No. 99 on the list.
Other local independent restaurants on the list include Le Diplomate, at No. 44, and Carmine’s, at No. 94.
Restaurant Business reports that the top 100 independent restaurants in the country brought in a combined $1.8 billion in sales last year.
