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Methodology, data stories, and notes from inside the inspection records.
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How New York City Inspects Its Restaurants (And Why Lower Is Better)
NYC scores restaurants backwards. It's confusing. It also works.
Your Favorite Restaurant Has Probably Failed an Inspection
The messy middle is where most restaurants live. Here's what that actually means.
How Chicago Inspects Its Restaurants (And Why the Data Is Uniquely Weird)
Chicago doesn't give restaurants a score. So we built one.
What We Learned Scoring Restaurants at Scale
We built a scoring engine across multiple cities. Here's what the data looks like when you zoom out.
How Dallas Inspects Its Restaurants (And Why the Data Comes From Two Places)
Dallas gives restaurants a number. Getting that number into our system is where things get interesting.
The Most Common Restaurant Violation in America Is Incredibly Boring
It's not rats. It's not roaches. It's a thermometer reading.
There Is No National Standard for Restaurant Inspections
A restaurant scoring a 92 in one city might get the same verdict as a 71 in another. That's not a bug. That's the whole system.
How LA County Inspects Its Restaurants (And Why the Letter Grade Isn't the Whole Story)
That A in the window? It's real. But there's a lot it doesn't tell you.
The Inspection System Wasn't Built for You
Your tax dollars fund it. Your health depends on it. And they made it nearly impossible to use.
How San Francisco Inspects Its Restaurants (And Why the Data Is Three Datasets in a Trench Coat)
SF changed its inspection format three times in eight years. We had to stitch the whole thing together.