Restaurants in Toronto, London and Sydney: what the figures say to a supplier

xMap's places database lists 3,792 restaurants within 10 km of the centre of London, 2,125 in Toronto and 1,640 in Sydney (November 2026). The details on each market page, such as how many are chains, how they are rated and how many are new, come from only the 290 to 326 restaurants nearest each centre. For a supplier, that slice is the dense core where a rep can walk between accounts, and it is mostly owner-run in all three cities.

This article is for companies that sell to restaurants: drinks and food distributors, equipment and packaging suppliers, software and service firms. It explains the slice the figures come from, then turns them into three decisions a supplier makes. A separate article covers how to find restaurants and time the approach; this one is about reading the market first.

The slice behind the details

Restaurant counts are large, so the market pages work out their details from the restaurants closest to each centre. That slice is a small part of each list:

xMap's places database, restaurants within 10 km of each city centre, November 2026.

So when this article says that 50 restaurants near London's centre belong to a chain, it means 50 of those 326, not 50 of 3,792. The suburbs further out may hold more chain restaurants, fewer, or the same share. Nothing here tells you which.

Decision one: how many accounts a rep can reach

The central slice is a few hundred restaurants inside a small area, which is about what one field rep can know well. In all three cities, most of them are independent: 276 of 326 in London, 249 of 290 in Toronto and 293 of 303 in Sydney. That means hundreds of separate buyers, each making their own decisions, rather than a few head offices. A supplier entering one of these centres should plan for visits and tastings, not a handful of contract negotiations.

Decision two: which accounts are worth more than one outlet

The chains near each centre are small, but who they are differs by city, and that changes how a supplier spends time.

• London: the largest names near the centre are high-street dining brands. Nando's has 8 of the 326, Bella Italia 6 and Wagamama 5. Groups of that size are likely to buy through a head office, which is a different sale from the independents around them.
• Toronto: Fast Fresh Foods has 5, then JOEY Restaurants and The Keg Steakhouse + Bar with 2 each. Groups are present but none is large near the centre.
• Sydney: only 10 of 303 belong to a chain, and the names at the top, Merivale, Vibe Hotels and QT Hotels & Resorts, point to hospitality groups that run restaurants inside venues and hotels. A supplier who wins one such group may reach several dining rooms at once.

Decision three: when to call

New restaurants choose their suppliers before they open and in their first months. The central slices differ here: 22 of 290 restaurants near Toronto's centre opened in the twelve months before November 2026, 19 of 324 dated ones near London's, and 9 of 303 near Sydney's. Toronto's centre gives a supplier the most fresh accounts relative to its size; Sydney's the fewest.

Ratings help less than you might hope. They average 4.2 in Toronto and Sydney and 4.4 near London's centre, and a large share sit at 4.5 or more in each city: 103 of 258 rated in Toronto, 143 of 278 in London, 95 of 226 in Sydney. A supplier of premium products may favour well-rated, well-reviewed places; one selling value lines may care more about busy, mid-rated ones. Either way, read the rating with the number of reviews behind it.

A worked example, invented for illustration

Say a drinks distributor has one rep for central Toronto and wants a weekly plan. From the market page it knows the central slice is about 290 restaurants, nearly all independent, with around two new openings a month on average over the past year. It sets the rep's week like this, in this made-up case: two days on the restaurants that opened in the last quarter, one day on the handful of group accounts, and two days walking one district at a time through established independents with many reviews. After a month, it compares which group signed most, then adjusts. The figures do not decide the plan; they stop it being guesswork.

Mistakes suppliers make with restaurant counts

• Applying the central slice's chain share to the whole city.
• Planning a rep team around the city total. Thousands of restaurants spread over 314 square kilometres are not one rep's patch.
• Treating every chain as a central-buying account. Some are two-site groups that buy like independents.
• Chasing the same new opening from two directions because two people saw it.

A supplier's daily list from an AI employee

In xMap Flows, an AI employee can keep the rep supplied with new and promising restaurants without anyone searching by hand:

1. Schedule: weekdays at 6.
2. Area of interest: the districts your reps cover.
3. Nearby places: Restaurant, with chain flag, rating, reviews, phone, website and opening date.
4. Only new: only restaurants not sent before.
5. xMap LLM: score each one as an account for your products, with a short reason.
6. Route planner: put the day's best ten in visiting order, then Email the rep.

The rep starts each day with a short, ordered list. The template Restaurants for my wine distribution starts from this shape; Hotels and restaurants to supply, researched adds hotels; New independent cafes and restaurants for my point-of-sale software suits software sellers.