Methodology

How FoodBud sources, grades, and labels every number on this site. Our promise: every figure links back to a source, and every estimate is labeled.

Source of truth

All operator data comes from FoodBud's global listed-foodservice-operator research dataset, built official-source-first. The website renders a versioned, read-only snapshot of that dataset.

Source tiers

Every number carries a source tier:

• S1 — Official primary disclosure: exchange filings, annual reports, prospectuses, IR results; SEC / HKEX / SEDAR+ / ASX / NZX / IDX / PSE and equivalents.
• S2 — Official secondary: company press releases, IR presentations, official web pages.
• S3 — Supplementary: financial-data sites or media, used only to fill gaps and always marked.
• S0 — Not found / not usable.

The large majority of figures on the site are S1.

What "scale" means — and what it doesn't

We deliberately separate terminal transaction scale from listed-company revenue:

• System sales / GMV / gross store sales — closest to end-consumer transaction volume across the whole network (including franchised stores).
• Revenue — the listed company's recognized revenue, which may be company-operated store sales, franchise/HQ income, supply-chain sales, or royalties.

Each operator's headline scale figure is tagged with a scale_basis (e.g., gmv_or_system_sales_usd vs revenue_usd). Do not compare a GMV-based figure directly against a revenue-based figure. For example, Mixue's scale is GMV-based (a franchise-led network), while Starbucks' is revenue-based (largely company-operated) — they are not apples to apples.

Confidence and quality labels

• data_confidence: high / medium / low / needs_source_pack — our overall confidence in an operator's record.
• metric quality: source_backed / screening_proxy / needs_source_pack.
• scale_per_store is a screening proxy (scale ÷ store count), not audited unit revenue and not unit profit.

We mark directional or estimated figures as such, and never present a proxy as a hard unit-economics conclusion.

Coverage

• Listed operators plus a small set of private/unlisted candidates (shown as candidates, with no official metrics until an official source pack is attached).
• v1 covers ~107 operators and is expanding toward the full ~221-operator master set. Each page shows its coverage state.

Scope

We track listed foodservice chain operators: restaurants, coffee, tea / milk-tea, bakery, dessert, QSR / snack, pubs, and food-court / kopitiam formats. Adjacent businesses (packaged beverages, dairy, food manufacturing, contract / travel catering, pure hotels) are excluded or clearly separated, never mixed into a single efficiency ranking.

Boundaries

• Every number links back to a source, with its tier shown.
• We do not fabricate GMV / system sales; unknowns are marked, not guessed.
• This site is information, not investment advice.