When assessing how many units a particular Concept or Company owns, it’s important to have a documented approach of what does and does not count when reviewing a physical location (aka Unit) and creating the corresponding roll-up summaries.

For starters, a simple definition:

A restaurant “unit” is defined as a brick-and-mortar establishment where food and/or beverages are sold to customers.

While seemingly specific, this definition still leaves a considerable amount of gray area when assessing the size of a business entity, namely because there are several “sticking points” that sales reps will quickly, and perhaps painstakingly, call into question.

Below is a growing list of considerations that can quickly complicate our definition, and that represent factors that Restaurantology does not include when assessing unit counts, also know as a Concept’s or Company’s Total Addressable Market (TAM):

• “Coming soon” locations
• Co-branded locations
• Food kiosks
• Food trucks/carts
• Stadiums/event center concessions
• Seasonal establishments
• Farmer’s markets
• Pop-up establishments
• Virtual kitchens
• “Eatertainment” venues aka movies, arcades or golf establishments with food/bar
• Country club w/ food