All Special Reports

The top-performing independent restaurants specializing in Italian cuisine of 2017.

A dozen new restaurants made their way onto the Top 100 Independents ranking. Some weren't open long enough to make the sales minimum on last year's list. Others' incremental growth did the trick. And in a few cases, owners asked to be considered, and they were spot on.

Five of the highest-grossing independent restaurants in the U.S. are in the nation’s capital, from one of America’s oldest places to talk politics to a newcomer owned by a consortium of family farms.

Operators are winning over millennials, among others, with trend-forward dishes and menu presentations.

Of the 12 restaurants among the Top 100 Independents that are located in Chicagoland, nine are in the city and three are in the suburbs. Two of those suburban restaurants—and three in the city—are operated by Gibsons Restaurant Group.

Want to get guests' attention? Check out some of these smart marketing moves.

These 100 restaurants brought in combined food and beverage revenues of more than $1.8 billion in 2016, with an average check of $68.26.

While it may not be all good news yet, these chains have plans in place that are starting to pay off.

From hyper-local promotions to customized freebies, savvy restaurateurs are finding new ways and new networks to build business. Check these out.

The panel of restaurant industry pros that judged this year’s Clean Plate Awards eat for a living.

The one-size-fits-all approach of big legacy chains may be giving way to more diversified, regionalized methods of restaurant development, even for concepts...

With every class of up-and-coming concepts comes a fresh crop of common threads that tie them together.

The 50 restaurant dishes that follow are top sellers that are currently driving traffic and may be tomorrow's Bloomin' Onion, Blizzard or Doritos Locos Taco.