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Restaurant
Intelligence Index

See what real restaurant
data is saying.

The twice-yearly
State of the Independent Restaurant Industry report.

Real operating data from independent restaurants, interpreted through more than 25 years of advising restaurant owners and operators. Each edition will show what is changing across the industry, why it matters, and what deserves your attention next.

A paid report, published twice a year for independent restaurant operators. Join the list below for launch updates.

A silver cloche lifted from a plate to reveal the Restaurant Intelligence Index report, surrounded by sales data, industry trends, KPI summary, tax and finance, operations, and people and culture cards
  • A box overflowing with restaurant paperwork

    Numbers, not anecdotes

    To be built from the operating data of independent restaurants, so you see what the industry is actually doing.

  • Rising bar chart with an upward arrow and star

    Signal, not noise

    Sales, margins, costs, labor and sentiment read together, so a real shift stands apart from a loud month.

  • Light bulb with orange idea rays

    Interpretation you can use

    Every signal comes with the why behind it and what to check in your own restaurant next.

Inside the Index

Seven chapters. One clear picture of the industry.

Each edition will follow the same structure, so you can track what has moved from one report to the next.

The Restaurant Intelligence Index report cover: Data. Insight. Advantage.

A report worth keeping on the desk.Published twice a year

  1. Restaurant activity gauge above guests and a dining table

    01Industry Pulse

    Where independent restaurants stand overall, and what moved since the last edition.

  2. Rising sales chart and dollar symbol

    02Sales & Profitability

    Revenue patterns and what they mean for margin at the operator level.

  3. Restaurant serving cloche with a cost chart and calculator

    03Food & Beverage Costs

    Cost movement across categories, and which pressures look structural.

  4. Restaurant team beneath an upward productivity arrow

    04Labor & Productivity

    Staffing, wages and output, read together rather than in isolation.

  5. Overlapping speech bubbles representing operator conversations

    05Operator Sentiment

    What operators themselves report about conditions and confidence.

  6. Laptop displaying restaurant analytics and an AI network

    06Technology & AI

    Adoption worth taking seriously, separated from the noise.

  7. Orange-centered target and arrow representing signals to focus on

    07What We’re Watching

    Early signals that may matter over the coming months.

Methodology

From restaurant data to industry intelligence.

The planned research line: real operating data goes in, individual restaurants stay protected, and experience turns the patterns into something you can use.

  1. Hand-drawn independent restaurant storefront

    Real restaurants

    Financial and operating data from independent restaurants.

  2. Checklist with identifying details removed

    Anonymized

    Identifiers are removed before analysis. No individual restaurant is named, and results are reported only in aggregate.

  3. Pie and bar charts representing aggregated data

    Aggregated & analyzed

    Trends, shifts, outliers and early signals are identified across the whole set.

  4. Report pages with charts and analysis

    Interpreted

    Restaurant operating experience adds the context the numbers cannot.

  5. The Restaurant Intelligence Index report

    The Index

    The signals that matter, published twice a year as clear, usable intelligence.

Shield and padlock representing data protection

Built on real data. Handled responsibly.

The Index will report patterns across many restaurants, not the position of any one of them. How contributed data may be used, including any use across other Full Plate Intelligence products, will be set out in the participation terms before any data is collected.

  • Anonymized & aggregated
  • No individual restaurant identified
  • Strict confidentiality
  • Secure handling
Hand-drawn portrait of Steve Dillberg Steve’s Take
The editor’s note in every edition

The numbers tell you what.
Experience helps explain why.

Every edition will combine restaurant operating data with more than 25 years of experience working alongside restaurant owners and operators.

The goal isn’t simply to report what changed. It’s to explain why it matters, what may be driving it, and what operators should be watching next.

Steve Dillberg, Full Plate Intelligence

The Restaurant Intelligence Index archive crate

Intelligence Index coming soon.
Join the early-access list through Full Plate Weekly.