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The second read on restaurants · Chicago

Every restaurant Chicago has tried since 2002, on the record.

Who was at an address, how long they lasted, and what replaced them: 25,581 restaurants, 12,153 storefronts with a record of their own, free to read. Type an address and start with its record.

Free, no card. See a full sample read first.

The record · exampleFree to read
2451 N Milwaukee AveChicago

3 restaurants have held a licence here since 2002, and PAULIE GEE'S LOGAN SQUARE holds the licence today.

Open the full recordRead a concept around here
The record is the city's own licence and inspection filings, resolved to the storefront. The score is one column on it, and it is a second opinion, never a verdict.
Restaurant licences, Chicago, since 2002as of 2026-07-28
187Klicense events, two decades deep
26Krestaurants, every one the city has licensed
12,153storefronts, each with its own record
28concepts, every one the city has tried
The week ending August 31

The record moved this week: 11 new restaurant openings.

New licenses across 10 neighborhoods in the seven days to August 31, filtered to restaurants the way every page here filters them: no groceries, no pharmacies, no corner shops counted as openings. The busiest was Roseland, and this is what a watch on it sends.

Roselandweek ending August 31
  • In & Out Fish & ChickenFried Chicken, Fast Casual10643 S Halsted St
  • Eiffel Waffle HalstedBreakfast / Diner, Casual Dining10321 S Halsted St

No closures confirmed here this week. A closure appears only when an inspector records it or the operator announces it, never inferred from a lapsed license, so silence is honesty rather than optimism. The week's openings were led by Roseland, Austin, Chinatown. Every month's openings, and a watch on the community area you care about.

One record, 4 things to do with it

What are you here to do?

Every page is free and none asks who you are first. Pick the job; the people who usually arrive with it are named under each, as examples rather than a gate.

Working listings? The broker one-pager is the whole thing on a single page, built to print and forward. Selling into restaurants? The vendor one-pager is the same, for a territory rather than a listing.

Read one, read two

What did the listing actually tell you?

Strategically located. Strong visibility. An established and growing customer base. Site-offer copy runs on the same handful of phrases whatever the site is, and none of them is checkable.

Read oneWhat the listing says

Generic phrasing0Info on concept and cuisine fit

The site is strategically located within an established commercial node surrounded by residential growth and everyday retail amenities. It benefits from strong visibility along the avenue, convenient access, and exposure to traffic travelling through one of the area's key corridors.

Address
2451 N Milwaukee Ave
Size
1,300 sq ft
Rent
$5,000 / mo
Term
10 years
Fixturing
90 days
Possession
Immediate

The area is supported by established neighbourhoods, nearby apartment developments and a broad customer base of families, professionals and commuters. It represents a strong opportunity to establish a location in this market, well positioned to support dine-in, takeout, catering and third-party delivery demand while serving an established and growing customer base.

Read twoWhat the record says

The same address, against every restaurant that opened here.

“Strong visibility, convenient access, an established node.”

3 restaurants have already opened at this address, and PAULIE GEE'S LOGAN SQUARE is trading there now.

“An established and growing customer base.”

Fast Food · American / Burger here scores 74% four-year survival, against 58% citywide.

“A strong opportunity to establish a location.”

Measured against 25,581 Chicago restaurants that already opened.

The score is zip resolution. It reads the concept against every comparable Chicago opening, not against this storefront. The licence history above it is exact to the address.

What the read returns

A number, and the reasons behind it.

Every read returns these three. Free, no card.

How your concept scores here.

Your cuisine and service format, scored against the citywide baseline, with the drivers pushing the number up and down.

Survival score, 0 to 100

What the address has already tried.

Every restaurant licensed here since 2002. Who, what concept, how long they lasted, and who holds the space today. On untried ground it says so.

Licence history since 2002

Which concepts have the record.

The read ranks every concept the city has tried and names the ones whose format has held up. Across 1,264 concepts that closed inside 4 years, the best alternative carried 22 more points of survival record. Most of that, 20 points, holds at an ordinary address too.

22 points between a concept and its best alternative

Not ready to run one? Open the Chicago cuisine map: every trading restaurant by concept, across all 61 community areas. Free, no sign-in, no address needed.

Free, about a minute, no card. Chicago addresses. Or see a full sample read.

The same food, twice

Same food, different format, different business.

Hold the cuisine still and change only how it is served. Across the cuisines Chicago has tried both ways, four-year survival moves by as much as 48 points and as little as 9.

Sandwich / Sub
Fast Food87%
Fast Casual39%
American / Burger
Fast Food85%
Fast Casual38%
Italian / Pizza
Fast Food79%
Fast Casual48%
Mexican
Casual Dining58%
Fast Casual49%

Four-year survival, cohorts of 165+ openings, 2003–2021. Newer openings have no four-year outcome yet.

Read against the record

The read has a track record.

Restaurants that scored in our top tier survived four years at 81%, against a 62% baseline, on 2,691 openings the model had never seen.

Opening your first restaurant is a different bet, so it gets its own number. Among 2,138 first-time operators, the top tier survived at 76% against their own 59%.

Drawn as pairs, it puts the longer-lasting restaurant first 64% of the time. A coin does it half the time.

Observational. Scores are historical, measured on openings from before the tool existed.

4-year survival by concept-fit decile, 2018+ openings
Decile 1089%
Decile 978%
Decile 870%
Decile 759%
Decile 664%
Decile 559%
Decile 456%
Decile 351%
Decile 245%
Decile 148%
baseline 62%
The whole record, open

The entire Chicago restaurant record, open to anyone.

A read answers one decision. The record answers the rest: 12 dashboards over 25,581 restaurants, every license since 2002 and every closure the record has caught up to, refreshed daily. Free, every one of them.

OverviewThe Chicago restaurant market at a glance: every license, opening and closure.Survival ratesHow long restaurants actually last in Chicago, cut by cuisine and cohort.CuisineHow every cuisine has actually performed in Chicago, and where.2nd gen opportunitiesWhich spaces already have restaurant bones, and which concept to put in one without a gut renovation.Revenue forecastWhat a concept at an address should realistically do, and why.FranchisesThe economics behind 75 brands, read from their own filings.All recordsEvery restaurant attempt in Chicago since 2002, searchable.Recent closuresWhere space is coming back, before it hits the listings.MoversWhich restaurants closed one site and reopened at another, and whether it worked.Address historyEvery restaurant that has traded at an address, and how long each lasted.Re-papered LLCsOne business, more than one LLC: the same owner re-papered, or the place sold and kept trading.Multi-restaurant sitesAddresses running several licensed restaurants at once, and the tenants inside them.

Plus the Chicago Restaurant Index, a monthly count of what the city is opening, with a watch on the community area you care about.

Where the read stops

What the read won't tell you.

Stated up front, where they belong.

An edge, not a verdict

64% head-to-head means the read is wrong on a meaningful share of individual calls. It is a second opinion.

Where matters less than what

The score moves on the concept and the operator's record far more than on the block. We have measured the address two separate ways and it is worth about a point. What it gives you is its own history and its real economics.

Correlation, not causation

Especially on operator experience. Whether opening places before causes better outcomes, or reflects who tends to open more of them, is unsettled.

All of it is written up in full: how the score is built and where every figure comes from.

“I know opening a restaurant will be risky. 2ndSight helps me better understand that risk.”

Frankie A.Da Pizza Dude food truck, Chicago.
Refreshed daily

License and inspection data daily; Google verification and rent bands monthly.

Built with Chicago operators

Made by 2nd Gen Kitchens, in the field with restaurants across the city every day.

The city's own record

Built on Chicago's public licence and inspection filings, not on a panel or a survey. Every source is listed.

Run a read

Read the lease before you sign it.

Type the address. Free, about a minute, no card and no call.

Chicago addresses, or a neighborhood. Or see a full sample read.

Questions first? Help and FAQ covers what a read includes.

Everything here is free right now: every read, every dashboard, and the watch digest that emails you when something moves on a block you are following. We are still working out which part of it is worth paying for, and the pricing page will say so before that changes.

Need scores by API, or the record for a whole desk? Talk to us.

The next market

New York is next.

The record, the neighborhood tiers and the rent bands are all local, so a second city is a second build. New York is in progress. Tell us where you're looking and you'll hear from us the day it opens.

Join the New York list