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Black Box Intelligence
Quick Answer
Black Box Intelligence (BBI) is restaurant industry sales data aggregated from private and public restaurants at market, state, and national levels. It provides the Restaurant Sales Index bundle, which benchmarks average unit volumes (AUVs) by market so you can compare markets and see how your brand stacks up against competitors.
What Is Black Box Intelligence?
Black Box Intelligence aggregates sales data from private and public restaurants. Indexes are created for each three-digit zip code to measure sales in the restaurant industry for comparative purposes.
What Does It Help Me Do?
Within SiteZeus, Black Box Intelligence helps answer three key questions:
- Which markets are associated with higher or lower average unit volumes (AUVs)?
- How many brands exceed their national AUV in a market?
- How does my brand's AUV compare to competitors' AUVs in the same market?
Data Specs
Restaurants are grouped into three categories:
| Category | What It Covers |
|---|---|
| Counter Service | Quick-service and fast-casual restaurants where customers order at a counter |
| Table Service | Family, casual, upscale-casual, and fine dining establishments with server-taken orders |
| Industry | All restaurants |
Each category includes four indices for every three-digit zip code:
| Index | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Minimum | Lowest percentage of national AUV achieved by brands |
| Average | Average percentage of national AUV achieved by brands |
| Maximum | Highest percentage of national AUV achieved by brands |
| Percentage of brands over average | Share of brands exceeding their national AUV |
Tip: Urban areas with more competition may show lower indices than rural areas, so compare markets with their surroundings in mind.
Where You See BBI Data in SiteZeus
- Smart Comps: BBI sales benchmarks support comparable-site analysis for US projects
- Predictive model: sales-comp variables can feed your model and appear in Variable Importance
BBI coverage is US-only, so Canadian projects hide sections that depend on it.