Number of restaurants in France: 186,300 in 2026

How many restaurants? It depends on your question#

The right answer depends on your question. To size a restaurant market, use 186,300 as your reference. For an offer aimed at restaurant owners, with no headquarters to convince, use the 164,874 independents, including about 97,000 with table service. For an offer negotiated with headquarters, use the 94 chains with a shared storefront name. For a list pulled from the activity code alone, expect about 5 rows for 3 restaurants in operation.

A note on the counts: the total of 186,300 comes from the full count, including overseas territories. All figures on market structure (independents, chains, specialties, regions) cover the 174,814 restaurants Scalon observed on November 6, 2026, with a public restaurant listing and evidence of activity.

Why does the number of restaurants in France vary so much?#

Published restaurant figures do not count the same thing. The first difference is the unit counted: a business, an employer location, a registration or a restaurant in operation. The next is the scope: commercial food service alone, or every meal served away from home.

Take a simple example. A company runs ten restaurants under the same management. For Insee, which counts businesses, it counts as one. For Urssaf (the French payroll-tax agency), it counts as ten locations if each employs staff. For Scalon, it counts as ten restaurants. All three counts are correct; they answer different questions.

There is no single "correct official figure" that invalidates the others. 304,030 answers the question "How many addresses are registered under a restaurant code?" 122,780 answers the question "How many restaurants employ staff?" 171,356 answers the question "How many businesses earn their revenue from food service?" 186,300 answers the question "How many restaurants can you visit, call or approach as prospects?"

The gap between the registry and our total deserves a closer look. We could not find a public business listing for 146,246 of the 304,030 locations marked as open in the registry, and 101,541 of those have no employees. Many are registrations with no visible activity. In practice: a prospect list pulled from the activity code alone contains about 5 rows for 3 restaurants in operation, or 1.6 rows per restaurant.

What the other sources say

• Insee, sector 561 sheet: 171,356 businesses in 2021 versus 165,112 in 2020. This is the most recent sheet: the sheets for 2022, planned for March 2025, were not released because of the classification change.
• Urssaf: 122,780 employer locations across the three restaurant codes at the end of 2025.
• Hotel, café and restaurant sector (DARES, as cited by AKTO): 121,240 employer locations on December 31, 2023. The sector also includes hotels, caterers and nightclubs.
• Sirene registry: 154,230 locations are marked "employer," more than Urssaf's 122,780: the status is not always updated when a restaurant no longer has employees.
• Drinking places: 36,200 locations in 2023, excluding micro-entrepreneurs (Insee Première no. 2123). Bars have their own article: the number of bars in France.

Market terms in plain English#

Industry terms mean different things to different people. Here are the ones used in this article.

The word "independent" can be confusing. Here, it has its commercial meaning: a restaurant outside any chain, franchise or buying group, sold to through its owner rather than a chain's headquarters. An owner running two or three restaurants without a common storefront name is still an independent; selling branded products or buying from a wholesaler does not make a restaurant part of a chain either.

The six levels of the market#

The study uses six levels, from the registry to the region, to distinguish what each figure counts. From level 3 to level 6, all figures use the same denominator: the 174,814 restaurants observed on November 6, 2026.

The channel comes from the activity code of the active location linked to the registry (snapshot as of September 24, 2026), used here as a marker: 56.10A for table service, 56.10C for fast food. The registry confirms table service for 57,190 independents. This is a minimum: 55,415 independents have no linked active location and 13,516 are linked under another code. Applying the share of table service observed among linked restaurants to each cuisine, we estimate about 40,000 more independents with table service, or about 97,000 in total: the main target for a restaurant supplier.

In practice: a third of the restaurants observed have no usable activity code, because no active location in the registry is linked to them. For these, the type of business comes from the specialty on the public listing, not the code.

The registry provides each restaurant's employee count range. Of 60,106 restaurants with a known headcount band, 81% have fewer than 10 employees, 17.7% have 10 to 49 and 1.2% have 50 or more. Of the 99,239 linked companies, 45.6% are SARL (French limited liability companies), 40.8% are SAS (French simplified joint-stock companies) and 13.0% are sole proprietors.

Chains, franchises or independents: who runs the restaurants?#

Of 174,814 restaurants observed, 164,874 are independents, outside any chain, franchise or buying group: 94%. The other 9,940 (6%) belong to 94 chains with a shared storefront name: 8,347 franchised, 198 company-owned, 554 in a buying group or association, and 841 in chains of undetermined type.

Chart data

Structure	Restaurants	Share	Chains
Independents, outside any chain	164,874	94.3%	none
Franchise chains	8,347	4.8%	72
Other chains with a shared storefront name: company-owned, associations, undetermined type	1,593	0.9%	22

Only 51 chains or operators without a storefront name have 50 restaurants or more, accounting for 8,718. The 10 largest account for about 3 in 100 (2.9%). The market is therefore highly fragmented: prospecting requires contacting restaurants one at a time. Even McDonald's, with 1,657 restaurants, accounts for only about 1 restaurant in 106.

Among the independents, 12,430 are run by an owner or company operating several restaurants without a common storefront name (same company or same website): 3,699 small networks, including 173 with 10 restaurants or more; four networks in five (79.9%), chains included, stay within a single region.

A public benchmark for comparison: Food Service Vision counts 20,796 chain locations in 2025, including bakeries and pastry shops. This figure is correct, but it measures something different from ours: their list of brands versus our count location by location; they also exclude hotel restaurants and train station and highway concessions, which we count. Another benchmark for food suppliers: according to Circana for FranceAgriMer, independent restaurants purchased 33% of the meat bought by the food service sector in 2022, and chains purchased 18%; the rest went to institutional food service (27% managed in-house, 22% through contract food service companies). These shares describe meat purchases, not a restaurant count.

Networks whose restaurants share no storefront name, website or company escape the count, and a chain whose storefront name was not recorded is still counted among the independents: the number of chain restaurants is a minimum (see the method).

What are the largest chains, and who runs them?#

The 94 chains with a shared storefront name fall into four types. The type points to the likely decision-maker, to be confirmed: headquarters for company-owned chains, each operator for a franchise, within the network's rules.

A chain is a franchise when its restaurants belong to several companies and its public page recruits franchisees. It is company-owned when at least 90% of its restaurants linked to the registry belong to the same company and the sources we read do not show it recruiting franchisees: a classification that depends on the links available. Exki, with only 2 of its 25 restaurants linked and opening new locations as franchises, stays an undetermined type. When public sources do not settle the question, we write "undetermined type." Le Kiosque à Pizzas writes on its website that it is not a franchise and is "made up entirely of independent owners," licensing its brand: like Wafu, it is classified as an association of independents. Pepe Chicken is a brand of Taster, a company that creates and operates restaurant brands whose sales come mainly from delivery.

Ten of the 94 chains have a main activity outside food service and are counted for their restaurants: hotels (Logis Hôtels, Campanile, Ibis), stores (Ikea, Picadeli, Sushi Daily counters in supermarkets) and bakery and pastry chains classified as restaurants or sandwich shops on their listings (La Mie Câline, Brioche Dorée, La Croissanterie, Paul).

Here are the ten largest storefront names. The third column counts operating companies among the restaurants that the registry links to a company.

Only 5,363 of the 9,940 chain restaurants (54%) are linked to a company in the registry. McDonald's reports 1,630 restaurants at the end of 2025; the gap with our 1,657 may come from recent openings or duplicate listings.

Headquarters or the operator? In the large chains, restaurants belong to many different companies. McDonald's has 906 companies for 983 restaurants linked to the registry: almost a company per restaurant. At Burger King, 340 companies for 435; at Domino's Pizza, 280 for 304. An offer negotiated with headquarters therefore does not necessarily reach each operator. Buffalo Grill is a partial exception: 57% of its linked restaurants belong to the same company.

Groups are another level. According to public sources (group websites, business press), Groupe Bertrand, through Bertrand Franchise, is behind Au Bureau, Hippopotamus, Volfoni, Pitaya and Léon, and holds the master franchise for Burger King in France. Groupe Le Duff owns Brioche Dorée (168 restaurants) and Del Arte (154). Groupe Baudaire owns La Boucherie (97) and Courtepaille (52). Groupe Holder owns Paul (92), the Mulliez family owns Flunch (117), and AmRest operates Sushi Shop (104). These groupings come from public sources, not the company registry: they were not traced through company IDs.

Another public benchmark: the Fédération française de la franchise reports 298 franchised fast-food storefront names in 2025, with 9,430 locations and €11.36 billion. The 9,430 locations are the closest benchmark for our 8,347 franchised restaurants, which also include restaurants with table service (Buffalo Grill, Au Bureau). The 298 storefront names include very small networks or ones with no restaurant observed in our data: they cannot be compared with our 72 franchise chains.

How much revenue does the restaurant industry generate in France?#

The "restaurants et services de restauration mobile" (restaurants and mobile food service) sector generated €45.9 billion in revenue excluding VAT in 2021, according to Insee's sector sheet (€45,928.3 million, versus €41,227.6 million in 2020). This is the sector figure to use. The sheet dates from March 2024 and covers 171,356 businesses.

The frequently cited €123 to €128 billion (Gira, 2024 and 2025) measures something else: all food consumption away from home, including institutional food service, vending machines and taxes. It cannot be compared with restaurant revenue.

A public benchmark exists for chains. According to Food Service Vision, chain restaurants generated €25.5 billion in 2025 and had 20,796 locations (17,000 in 2021). This list includes bakeries and pastry shops; the published breakdown is 66% fast food, 21% table service and 13% bakeries and pastry shops. These figures are correct, but they measure something different from ours: they start from a list of brands, excluding hotel restaurants and train station and highway concessions; we count the locations observed, hotel restaurants and concessions included; neighborhood bakeries are excluded, but 618 restaurants of bakery and pastry chains are included when their listing is classified as a restaurant or sandwich shop.

Here Scalon combines the observed structure of restaurants with published accounts, company by company: who generates the revenue. It covers 8,068 companies whose main activity is food service (code 56.10) and that publish their accounts (latest financial year ending in 2024 or later), or 8% of the 99,239 companies linked to the restaurants observed. The 111 linked companies with another main activity (including institutional food service, retail, property rental, hotels: €4.4 billion) are excluded. Recent, positive revenue from a food-service company is available for only 7.0% of linked companies running a single restaurant, versus 28.0% of companies belonging to businesses or networks with 50 restaurants or more. This data set therefore overrepresents large businesses and networks.

Within this data set, the 1,171 companies belonging to chains with a shared storefront name (6 restaurants in 100) account for 52% of published revenue, including headquarters: a figure showing where reported revenue is concentrated, not the chains' market share. Combined published revenue reaches €12.5 billion. Half of the companies generate less than €451,000 a year. The table shows where the money is concentrated.

The 237 companies with €5 million or more account for 41.9% of the total. At the other end, just over half of the companies (53%) have revenue below €500,000. The 10 largest companies generate 15.8% of the total, the 100 largest 35.4%.

Another breakdown, by business or network size rather than storefront name: businesses or networks with 50 restaurants or more (chains and large operators with no confirmed storefront name) account for 50% of published revenue, single-restaurant companies 38%.

Chart data

Business or network size	Companies with published accounts	Published revenue (€ millions)	Share	Half of companies generate less than
Single restaurant	6,250	4,717	37.7%	€317,000
2 to 9 restaurants	510	933	7.5%	€1.03M
10 to 49 restaurants	207	640	5.1%	€1.17M
50 restaurants or more	1,101	6,230	49.8%	€3.06M

Half of single-restaurant companies that publish their accounts generate less than €317,000 a year; for the entire restaurant sector, excluding micro-entrepreneurs, Insee reports €184,000 in 2023. These two benchmarks cover different years and different populations, and our base overrepresents large operators. Half of the companies belonging to businesses or networks with 50 restaurants or more generate more than €3 million. If you sell equipment, software or insurance, the account size to target differs.

Interpret these figures carefully: they show the company's revenue, not a single restaurant's. This is why companies classified outside food service are excluded: McDonald's France, for example, registered under property rental, reports €1.18 billion for 33 restaurants attached to that company, not the 1,657 operating under that storefront name.

How do you build a restaurant prospect list?#

A useful list does not start with the registry's 304,030 rows. It starts with the restaurants your offer targets, then combines specialty, structure and region. Five points determine its quality.

1. Start with restaurants in operation, not registrations. The registry has 1.6 rows per restaurant in operation. A list pulled from the activity code alone sends mail to addresses that no longer exist.
2. Check whether you can reach them. Of the restaurants recorded on November 2, 2026, 94% have a public phone number, 47% a website and 6% a public email address. The phone is the most reliable channel; email is rare. The person running the business is identified for 91% of businesses, and half of these people are 46 or younger.
3. Know who you are talking to: headquarters or the operator. In the large chains, each restaurant often has its own company (see the chains). An offer signed at headquarters does not mean each operator has agreed. The list must therefore state whether each restaurant is independent or part of a chain, under which storefront name, and which company runs it. For a specific restaurant, its storefront name and the brand's website show whether it belongs to a chain or a franchise; the Annuaire des entreprises (the French government's free business directory) (annuaire-entreprises.data.gouv.fr) gives its company and its other locations.
4. Refresh the list. The market changes fast (see openings and closures): a year-old list already includes closed locations and misses new openings.
5. Segment by specialty. Prospecting for fast-food restaurants requires a different approach than prospecting for French-cuisine restaurants (see specialties). The prospects, selling points and decision-makers differ.

For a hygiene, refrigeration or cleaning offer, published inspection ratings are a useful signal: our guide to restaurant hygiene inspections in France explains how to read them.

Scalon's market size calculator helps define this scope before you place an order.

What do restaurants serve? Specialties#

Each restaurant is assigned a specialty based on its public listing's main category: 21 specialties in total. Fast food and burgers (22,248) and pizzerias (19,966) lead among the cuisines listed.

The 21 specialties: restaurants, share of total, chain share

Specialty	Restaurants	Share of total	Share in chains with a shared storefront name
Restaurant with no specialty listed	71,065	40.7%	2.7%
Fast food and burgers	22,248	12.7%	19.6%
Pizzerias	19,966	11.4%	7.4%
French and traditional cuisine	13,361	7.6%	0.8%
Asian (excluding Japanese)	7,409	4.2%	0.9%
Sandwich shops, snack bars and takeout	5,341	3.1%	16.4%
Brasseries (French-style casual restaurants) and bistros	5,117	2.9%	0.3%
Kebab and Turkish cuisine	4,800	2.7%	0.1%
Japanese and sushi	4,575	2.6%	5.9%
Italian (excluding pizzerias)	4,194	2.4%	1.5%
Crepe restaurants	3,297	1.9%	1.1%
North African, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean	3,283	1.9%	0.1%
Other world cuisines	2,591	1.5%	4.4%
Indian and South Asian	1,668	1.0%	0.1%
Healthy food, poke and salads	1,186	0.7%	16.8%
Grills and meat	1,149	0.7%	14.3%
Fish and seafood	909	0.5%	0.6%
Tacos and Mexican	781	0.4%	22.7%
Cafeterias, self-service and buffets	755	0.4%	1.5%
Food trucks	734	0.4%	0.1%
Fried and roast chicken	385	0.2%	14.3%

Listings that say only "restaurant" are the largest group (71,065). To find out what they serve, Scalon read the website homepages of 400 of them, selected at random from the 29,929 with a website: 40% describe themselves as serving French or traditional cuisine, or as a brasserie or bistro, and a third name no specific cuisine, even on their website.

Specialty varies greatly with structure. Tacos (22.7%), fast food (19.6%), salad and poke bars (16.8%) and sandwich shops (16.4%) have the highest chain shares. French cuisine, brasseries and crepe restaurants have fewer than 2 restaurants in 100 in a chain with a shared storefront name. If you sell to restaurants specializing in a particular cuisine, this difference determines whether you should contact the owner or headquarters.

Restaurant submarkets#

The ten largest specialties each have 3,297 restaurants or more. Each forms its own market: the same suppliers, the same equipment, the same customers. For each, here are the count, the share in chains with a shared storefront name, and the fast-food share among restaurants that the registry links to an active code.

• Fast food and burgers: 22,248 restaurants. Nearly 1 in 5 belongs to a chain (19.6%) and 91% of linked restaurants fall under fast food in the registry. McDonald's (1,618 restaurants classified as fast food), Burger King (641) and O'Tacos (297) lead the market. This is the market where headquarters has the most influence.
• Pizzerias: 19,966 restaurants. 7.4% in chains; 73% under fast food in the registry. Le Kiosque à Pizzas (445 classified as pizzerias) and Domino's Pizza (396) are the leading chains with a shared storefront name. More than 9 in 10 are independents, outside any chain (92.6%).
• French and traditional cuisine: 13,361 restaurants. Fewer than 1 in 100 in a chain (0.8%) and only 4% in fast food: this is classic table service, run by the owner.
• Asian, excluding Japanese: 7,409 restaurants. 0.9% in chains; 38% in fast food.
• Sandwich shops, snack bars and takeout: 5,341 restaurants. 16.4% in chains; 83% in fast food. Subway (295) and La Croissanterie (142) have a large presence.
• Brasseries and bistros: 5,117 restaurants. 0.3% in chains; 6% in fast food.
• Kebabs and Turkish cuisine: 4,800 restaurants. Fewer than 1 in 100 in a chain (0.1%); 84% in fast food.
• Japanese and sushi: 4,575 restaurants. 5.9% in chains: Sushi Shop (103), Côté Sushi (88) and Eat Sushi (45); 40% in fast food.
• Italian, excluding pizzerias: 4,194 restaurants. 1.5% in chains (Volfoni, Del Arte); 22% in fast food.
• Crepe restaurants: 3,297 restaurants. 1.1% in chains; 27% in fast food.

A list filtered by specialty lets you target one cuisine without paying for data on the entire restaurant industry. The listing category above only captures part of the kebab shops: our study on the number of kebab shops in France also identifies them by their name and customer reviews.

Where are the restaurants? Geography#

Île-de-France has the most restaurants (33,737, or 19.3% of the observed total), ahead of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (23,148) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (20,469). The share of independents outside any chain ranges from 90.9% in Centre-Val de Loire to 99.2% in Corsica.

Regions: restaurants, share of total, independent share

Region	Restaurants	Share	Independent share, outside any chain
Île-de-France	33,737	19.3%	93.3%
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	23,148	13.2%	95.1%
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	20,469	11.7%	96.4%
Occitanie	19,164	11.0%	95.2%
Nouvelle-Aquitaine	16,462	9.4%	93.7%
Grand Est	12,094	6.9%	93.5%
Hauts-de-France	10,723	6.1%	92.3%
Bretagne	8,334	4.8%	95.2%
Pays de la Loire	7,445	4.3%	92.5%
Normandie	6,975	4.0%	94.5%
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté	6,146	3.5%	93.9%
Centre-Val de Loire	4,986	2.9%	90.9%
Corse	2,470	1.4%	99.2%
Overseas territories	2,171	1.2%	98.6%
Region undetermined	490	0.3%	96.9%
Total	174,814	100.0%	94.3%

For a delivery area, the department (a French administrative division) matters more than the region. Paris leads with 14,338 restaurants observed, ahead of Bouches-du-Rhône (6,987), Rhône (5,108), Alpes-Maritimes (5,051) and Nord (4,932). Among the top twenty, the share of independents outside any chain ranges from 89.1% in Seine-et-Marne to 97.1% in Var.

The 20 departments with the most restaurants

Department	Restaurants observed	Independent share, outside any chain
Paris (75)	14,338	96.4%
Bouches-du-Rhône (13)	6,987	95.5%
Rhône (69)	5,108	93.4%
Alpes-Maritimes (06)	5,051	96.8%
Nord (59)	4,932	92.8%
Gironde (33)	4,792	92.2%
Hérault (34)	4,717	96.1%
Var (83)	4,577	97.1%
Hauts-de-Seine (92)	3,836	92.9%
Haute-Garonne (31)	3,682	91.6%
Seine-Saint-Denis (93)	3,384	92.7%
Isère (38)	3,293	94.9%
Haute-Savoie (74)	3,261	96.7%
Bas-Rhin (67)	3,071	95.0%
Loire-Atlantique (44)	3,047	92.8%
Seine-et-Marne (77)	2,772	89.1%
Val-de-Marne (94)	2,698	91.0%
Pas-de-Calais (62)	2,498	92.3%
Seine-Maritime (76)	2,496	93.9%
Yvelines (78)	2,426	91.0%

These counts are not densities. A separate data set, reviewed on November 2, 2026, includes only restaurants that received a customer review during the year and gives a density of 25.3 per 10,000 residents in mainland France: from 14.4 in Aisne to 66.1 in Paris and 75.5 in Corse-du-Sud (Insee municipal population).

The registry and actual restaurants do not match at the local level either. In Paris, the registry lists 28,667 open locations under a restaurant code, for 13,907 restaurants that received a review during the year: twice as many rows as restaurants.

For a sales team, the useful view combines both: Île-de-France accounts for a fifth of restaurants and has the most chain restaurants (2,270).

Is the market changing? Openings, closures and bankruptcies#

A count is a snapshot on a given date. It does not say how many restaurants closed during the year. Yet the registry dates every opening and closure: from October 2025 to September 2026, 38,081 restaurant locations opened and 33,295 closed, a net gain of +4,786 (read on November 2, 2026).

The balance is not the same everywhere. Traditional restaurants are declining, with 11,840 openings against 12,158 closures. Fast food drives the increase: 26,201 openings, 21,064 closures. A closure in the registry also includes a restaurant that changed hands and was re-registered under a new number.

Turnover is fast. Among restaurants with a known creation date, 17% are less than 2 years old and 43% less than 5 years old (101,306 restaurants, registry as of September 24, 2026). One restaurant in three is 10 years old or more (33%). For anyone prospecting, a list more than a year old is already out of date.

Business failures are rising. In the Bodacc (France's official gazette of business legal notices), 6,715 court orders opening insolvency proceedings concerned 6,690 restaurant businesses between October 30, 2025 and October 29, 2026, versus 6,283 businesses a year earlier. Two court orders in three are liquidations (4,414). The Banque de France (France's central bank) counts 9,796 business failures in accommodation and food service over the twelve months ending in August 2026, 8.5% more than a year earlier. Proceedings across all sectors have their own article: business bankruptcies in 2026.

How can you use these figures for market research?#

Size an addressable market#

An offer for all restaurants starts with 186,300. An offer for restaurant owners uses the 164,874 independents, outside any chain or franchise, including about 97,000 with table service. An offer sold to headquarters uses the 94 chains with a shared storefront name and their 9,940 restaurants, bearing in mind that each chain restaurant often has its own company (see the chains).

Segment the market#

Combine specialty, structure and region: 19,966 pizzerias, of which 7.4% are in chains, call for a different sales approach from 22,248 fast-food restaurants, of which 19.6% are in chains.

Choose a territory#

Regional and departmental counts show the scale; to compare two territories, relate them to population or foot traffic.

Track a changing market#

The market changes fast, so studies must be dated and repeated; the Observatory publishes each count with its date and method. For another market, see the number of auto repair shops in France.

Which NAF or APE code applies to a restaurant?#

Three codes cover restaurants. 56.10A is traditional restaurants with table service. 56.10C is fast-food-type restaurants, including takeout. 56.10B covers cafeterias and other self-service restaurants. The NAF code (the French activity classification code, also called APE code) is the main activity code Insee assigns to each location using the NAF classification.

Filtering on these three codes does not reconstruct the market. Among the restaurants Scalon observed, 13,803 (8%) have an active location in the registry under another code, and 59,705 (34%) have no linked active location.

Urssaf shows a long-term shift: 53,460 employer fast-food locations at the end of 2025, versus 34,825 at the end of 2016 (+54%). Over the same period, the number of traditional restaurant locations with employees fell from 71,154 to 68,908 (−3%).

The codes will change. On January 1, 2027, NAF 2025 becomes the reference classification: 56.10A becomes 56.11G and 56.10B becomes 56.11H. 56.10C splits in two: 56.11J for fast food, 56.12Y for mobile food service (food trucks). In the registry, 5,726 open locations under 56.10C already carry the future code 56.12Y. All the changes are detailed in APE and NAF codes: what changes in 2027.

If you compare two years, check each year's classification: a series spanning 2027 mixes two classifications.

Frequently asked questions#

How many independent restaurants are there in France?#

Of the 174,814 restaurants observed on November 6, 2026, 164,874 are independents, outside any chain or franchise: 94%. About 97,000 of them offer table service.

How many restaurant chains are there in France?#

Scalon counts 94 with a confirmed storefront name, accounting for 9,940 restaurants (6%). The largest are McDonald's (1,657 restaurants), Burger King (645) and Le Kiosque à Pizzas (474).

How many restaurant franchises are there in France?#

72 chains with a shared storefront name are franchises, accounting for 8,347 restaurants. The Fédération française de la franchise counts 9,430 franchised fast-food locations in 2025, across 298 storefront names: our 8,347 restaurants also include table-service franchises, and the 298 storefront names include networks with no restaurant observed in our data.

How many fast-food restaurants are there in France?#

22,248 restaurants list "fast food and burgers" as their specialty on their public listing. Fast-food restaurants as defined by the activity code are more numerous: 165,328 open locations in the registry under code 56.10C, many with no visible activity, and 53,460 employer locations (Urssaf, end of 2025).

How much revenue do restaurants generate in France?#

Insee's sector sheet reports €45.9 billion excluding VAT in 2021 for 171,356 businesses. According to Insee, half of restaurant businesses (excluding micro-entrepreneurs) generated less than €184,000 in annual revenue in 2023. Among restaurant companies that publish their accounts, which are larger on average, half of those running a single restaurant generate less than €317,000, and half of those belonging to businesses or networks with 50 restaurants or more generate more than €3 million.

Which NAF code applies to a restaurant?#

56.10A for traditional restaurants with table service, 56.10C for fast-food-type restaurants, 56.10B for cafeterias. NAF 2025 replaces them on January 1, 2027 with 56.11G, 56.11J, 56.11H and 56.12Y (mobile food service).

Why do figures for the number of restaurants differ?#

Because they count different units: businesses (Insee, 171,356 in 2021), employer locations (Urssaf, 122,780 at the end of 2025), registrations (registry, 304,030), food service units in the broad sense (Gira, 407,000 to 415,595) or restaurants in operation (Scalon, 186,300).

How do you reach restaurant owners?#

By phone first: 94% of restaurants recorded on November 2, 2026 have a public number. 47% have a website, 6% a public email address. For chains, the decision may be made at headquarters or by each operator: the list must make that clear.

Method#

The total comes from the Scalon graph, which brings together, for each location, its records in the Sirene registry, in public business listings and in professional directories. Public listings and customer reviews read on November 6, 2026; Sirene registry as of November 2 for the total and September 24 for codes, headcounts and creation dates. Scope: traditional restaurants, brasseries, pizzerias, fast food and food trucks; no bars, institutional food service, caterers or neighborhood bakeries; bakery and pastry chains classified as restaurants or sandwich shops on their listings are counted (618 restaurants). Some restaurant records were reviewed a second time by Scalon. The calculation gives 186,277 restaurants, rounded to 186,300.

The details of the method and its limits

Unit and universe. The unit is the restaurant: a location serving meals, identified by its public listing and its SIRET number (the French ID of a business location), if any. A company running ten restaurants counts as ten. The universe starts with the 213,110 places classified as restaurants on their public listing and not closed, and the 304,030 open locations in the registry under 56.10A, 56.10B and 56.10C.

Total. The total adds up three counts: 170,283 restaurants (the 174,814 restaurants observed, adjusted by the share of actual restaurants in the control sample, measured on the 70 sampled locations still in the population: 100% with no SIRET number or a closed one, 96% with an open SIRET number), 12,963 restaurants with employees for which no public listing was reviewed (based on Urssaf, 122,780 employers minus those found through the graph link or their name and postal code) and 3,031 restaurants with no employees in overseas territories (3,739 estimated, minus 708 already counted through their listing). Total: 186,277. Alternatives: without the last two counts, 170,283 (−9%); without adjusting the share of restaurants, 190,808 (+2%).

November 9 correction. "Independent" now has its commercial meaning: outside any chain, franchise or buying group. Earlier versions called a restaurant independent when it shared no company, website or storefront name with another (152,444, 87%); the article now counts every restaurant outside the 94 chains with a shared storefront name (164,874, 94%), and about 97,000 independents with table service instead of 91,000. Table service and fast food are defined by how customers are served, with the activity code still cited as a marker.

November 6 corrections. The November 2 version gave 181,000: it counted 708 overseas restaurants twice, both through their listing and in the estimate of restaurants with no employees. A first November 6 update then gave 180,300: its control sample automatically counted uncertain answers as non-restaurants, along with places already removed from the population (a university cafeteria, a vending machine). Rates are now measured only on sampled locations still in the population, with each doubtful answer reviewed one by one. The rest of the gap comes from the November 6 reading.

Classification. The specialty is the public listing's main category, assigned through a fixed table of 298 categories written by hand, yielding 21 specialties (this is not a classification of free text). The channel comes from the activity code of the active location linked to the registry; without a linked active location, it remains "unknown." Independents and chains follow the definitions in the market terms: a chain groups the restaurants of a storefront name recorded by hand (94 storefront names); an independent belongs to none of them, even when its company or website runs other restaurants. Online ordering platforms, website builders, web agencies and directories are excluded. Each chain's type comes from the distribution of companies (company-owned chains: at least 90% of linked restaurants under the same company) and public evidence (a franchisee recruitment page, a source stating that a chain is an association, the owning group).

Checks. Records for a sample of 100 locations from the November 2 version were reviewed (50 with no SIRET number, 25 with only a SIRET number for a closed location, and 25 with a SIRET number for an open location): 70 of these locations remain in the November 6 population; the other 30 were removed for lack of proof of activity or by the exclusion list. Scalon reviewed the uncertain, discarded and "accommodation" answers one by one: of the 70, 69 are restaurants, including a crêperie, a restaurant-bar and a campground's bar-restaurant; the last is a location merged with a grocery store and closed according to its website. Scalon reviewed 20 of those records again and reached the same conclusion in all 20 cases. The 400 homepages were selected at random among restaurants with no cuisine listed and a website; those with no website may serve something else. Of the 400, 159 present themselves as French cuisine, brasserie or bistro, 133 state no specific cuisine and 4 answers were discarded (quote not found on the page); the margin of error is about 5 points (95% interval). The Claude Haiku 5.5 model (Anthropic) reviewed them; Scalon checked 40 again and reached the same conclusion in 39 cases. These checks cover the type of place and the cuisine listed, not actual activity.

Independents with table service. 57,190 independents are linked to an active location under 56.10A. For the 68,931 independents with no linked active location or linked under another code, we apply, specialty by specialty, the share of 56.10A observed among restaurants linked to 56.10A or 56.10C (for example, the vast majority of French-cuisine restaurants, a minority of fast-food restaurants): about 40,000 more, or about 97,000 in total. The assumption is that for the same cuisine, restaurants with no code offer table service as often as the others.

Revenue. It comes from the published accounts of the 8,068 companies whose main registered activity is food service (56.10) and that have a financial year ending in 2024 or later with positive revenue, out of 99,239 companies linked to the restaurants observed. The 111 linked companies classified outside food service are excluded. Companies with no published accounts are not included.

Comparison with public sources. The totals are compared with Insee (sector 561 sheet), Urssaf (employer locations), AKTO and the Banque de France. Openings are the locations' creation dates; closures are the closing dates published by Insee through September 30, 2026. Insolvency proceedings are the court orders opening proceedings published in the Bodacc for businesses whose headquarters is classified as a restaurant. Density divides restaurants that received a review during the year by Insee's municipal population.

Rounding. Shares are calculated from the counts shown and rounded to one decimal place; they do not always add up to exactly 100%.

Limits. Registry as of September 24, 2026 for codes, headcounts and creation dates: more recent changes are not included. Business email addresses were not reviewed for the structure analysis: they could link a few more restaurants. Groups come from public sources and were not traced through the company registry. A network whose restaurants share no storefront name, website or company is not seen: the network count is a minimum. 10 of the 94 chains have a main activity outside food service (hotels, stores, bakeries and pastry shops) and are counted for their restaurants. A restaurant appearing under two listings that the graph did not merge is counted twice. The total can vary by about 9% downward and 2% upward across the alternatives. The commands that reproduce each figure are kept with the article.

Key takeaways#

France has 186,300 restaurants in operation, versus 304,030 registry rows. More than 9 in 10 are independents, outside any chain or franchise, including about 97,000 with table service: most sales happen restaurant by restaurant, and even in chains, often operator by operator.

For a study or a list, choose the target before the figure, keep the same denominator from start to finish, and record the date of each review.

Cite this study#

The full citation, with the counts

Scalon Observatory, "Number of restaurants in France: 186,300 in 2026," November 9, 2026: 186,300 restaurants in operation in France (estimate); 304,030 open locations under codes 56.10A, 56.10B and 56.10C in the Sirene registry as of November 2, 2026; 164,874 independent restaurants, outside any chain or franchise, out of 174,814 restaurants observed (94%); 94 chains with a shared storefront name and 9,940 restaurants; about 97,000 independents with table service (estimate), including 57,190 confirmed by the registry. https://scalon.fr/en/observatory/number-of-restaurants-in-france

Sources#

• Fiche secteur 561 - Restaurants et services de restauration mobile, Insee, 11 mars 2024
• Fiches sectorielles - 2021, avis du 24 mars 2025 sur le millésime 2022, Insee
• Les débits de boissons de 2016 à 2023, Insee Première n° 2123, juillet 2026
• Nombre d'établissements employeurs et effectifs salariés du secteur privé, France entière x APE, Urssaf (données ouvertes)
• Hôtels Cafés Restaurants, panorama statistique, exercice 2024, AKTO, mars 2026
• Défaillances d'entreprises, août 2026, Banque de France
• Vers une nouvelle nomenclature : la NAF 2025, Insee
• Sous-classe 56.12Y, Activités de service de restauration mobile, NAF 2025, Insee
• Marché des chaînes de restauration (Food Service Vision, Revue Chaînes 2026), Républik Retail, 20 mai 2026
• Indicateurs clés 2025 de la franchise, Fédération française de la franchise, 3 mars 2026
• La consommation hors domicile en France, Circana pour FranceAgriMer
• Rapport d'impact 2025, McDonald's France
• Gira : consommation alimentaire hors domicile de 123 milliards d'euros en 2024, L'Hôtellerie-Restauration, 4 juin 2025
• Gira : 361 000 restaurants en 2019, 407 000 en 2024, repris par RTL, 21 août 2025
• Gira : 415 595 unités de restauration en 2025, repris par Extencia
• UMIH : 175 000 restaurants, cité par Le Figaro, 27 août 2025
• Sirene registry (Insee), Bodacc, public business listings and their reviews, table reservation platform: read in the Scalon graph on November 2 and 6, 2026.