THE MENU
Beyond the Stars
What makes a restaurant survive in America's most competitive markets?
This is the story behind Yelp’s 1.4 million reviews.
Chef’s Note
America's 2nd largest private employer
Restaurants employ 15.7 million people and contribute over 5% of U.S. GDP. But the odds are tough: 61% fail within three years, with the vast majority being small, independent operators.
CLOSED
CLOSED
CLOSED
CLOSED
CLOSED
CLOSED
61%
of all restaurants close within 3 years
Ingredients
Focusing on the Pennsylvania & New Jersey region
Drawn from 58,000+ independent restaurants across the U.S.
This region contains the densest and most representative data.
Philadelphia alone appears more than any other city in the dataset.
DATA OVERVIEW
15,982
restaurants
1.4M
REVIEWS
2.4M
CHECK-INS
6,098
CLOSED
Locations
1 in 3 restaurants
close permanently
Nearly a third of the listed restaurants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have permanently closed. Those that did not survive spread across every neighborhood from bustling commercial strips to quiet residential blocks. No area was immune.
Survivors cluster
by quality
Filtering to open restaurants rated 4 stars or higher reveals where quality concentrates. We can see that higher rated establishments. High-rated survivors are spread across both urban cores and suburban neighborhoods, showing that quality, not location, appears to be the differentiator.
Entrées
What types of restaurants dominate the region?
We analyzed 15,982 independent restaurants in PA and NJ by cuisine type to better understand what's popular among small, local businesses.
15,982
restaurants total
Bars & Nightlife
2,004
69%
Diners & Cafes
1,824
62%
American
1,594
56%
Pizza
1,537
72%
Sandwiches
1,420
70%
Bakeries & Desserts
1,348
65%
Chinese
917
74%
Italian
859
60%
Japanese
555
62%
Mexican
545
65%
Healthy
491
63%
Seafood
384
66%
Franchises
2,504
# of restaurant
survival rate (%)
74%
highest
survival
survival rate for Chinese
House Specials
Does a higher star rating mean more check-ins?
Not always. Use the filters below to explore how 15,982 Yelp restaurants across cities, price tiers, and cuisine types distribute across ratings and where the crowds actually go.
Each dot is a restaurant. The vertical axis is on a log scale, so the distance between 10 and 100 check-ins looks the same as 100 to 1,000. Drag the filters to find your own patterns.
Sides
Which amenities actually correlates to whether a restaurant survives?
Some restaurants last decades. Most don't make it past three years.
So what separates the survivors?
Using data from 15,982 restaurants across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, we trained a model to find which factors (e.g., delivery, ambiance, location, ratings) most strongly predict whether a restaurant stays open.
Hover each bar to learn more.
Coefficient: How much this factor shifts survival odds on a log scale. The larger the number, the stronger the effect.
Odds ratio: The same thing converted to a multiplier. 1.29× means 29% better survival odds compared to restaurants without that feature.
How survival odds are measured: Logistic regression across 15,982 PA & NJ restaurants, controlling for rating, volume, price, and location. Percentages reflect how much each factor shifts a restaurant's odds of still being open, holding everything else constant.
Guest Favorites
What Do Guests
Actually Say?
Pick any two-star buckets and compare the most distinctive words side by side, ranked by how disproportionately they appear at that rating vs. all others.
A word with 500 uses that concentrates 90% in 1–2 ★ reviews scores far higher than a word with 50,000 uses spread evenly across all buckets. Bar length reflects that surprise score, not raw count.
How distinctiveness is measured: Each word is scored by how surprisingly often it appears in one star bucket versus all reviews. Rarity plus concentration beats sheer frequency. Bar length reflects that surprise score, not raw count.
Dessert
Food for thought
Top Insight #1
Delivery Platforms
+29%
The strongest predictor of survival
Maintains visibility during low foot-traffic periods
Top Insight #2
Customer Reviews
2x
More reviews matter more than higher ratings
Increase visibility and help restaurants stay competitive on platforms
Top Insight #3
Rating Sweet Spot
4–4.5★
Restaurants in the 4.0–4.5★ range show the highest survival
Consistent quality performs better than chasing perfect ratings
Designed @2026 by Jenna Li, Mabel Teo, and Monica Zhao