NAICS code for a restaurant: 722511, 722513 and how to choose

This page is for restaurant owners filling in a form that asks for a NAICS or SIC code (SAM.gov, a loan, a tax return) and for sellers listing restaurants by code.

The NAICS codes for restaurants

All four restaurant codes sit in 72251, Restaurants and Other Eating Places, in Sector 72, Accommodation and Food Services. Forms want the six-digit code: SBA size standards and IRS activity codes are set at six digits.

How to choose: the payment test and the edge cases

The Census definitions turn on one question: when does the customer pay? If a server takes the order at the table and the bill comes after the meal, the code is 722511. If the customer orders at a counter, kiosk, app or phone and pays first, it's 722513, whether they eat on the premises or not. Price and cuisine don't decide it: the Census index lists "steak houses, limited-service" under 722513 and "pizzerias, full service" under 722511.

Private clubs with dining rooms (813410) and dinner theaters (711110) have their own codes too. If you do two of these things, use the code for the one that earns the most: the IRS Schedule C instructions say to pick "the principal source of your sales or receipts." A sit-down restaurant with a catering side stays 722511 while table service earns more, and lists 722320 as an extra code where a form allows several. For chains, a head office that only manages the restaurants is 551114, Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices, and a franchisor that only licenses its brand is 533110, Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets.

SIC codes for restaurants

The SIC code for restaurants is 5812, Eating Places. Bars are 5813, Drinking Places. SIC's last edition is from 1987, and the Census Bureau's concordance maps 5812 to seven NAICS 2022 codes:

The mapping isn't one to one in either direction: 722515 also takes part of SIC 5461, Retail Bakeries, and the food truck code 722330 maps to SIC 5963, Direct Selling Establishments. To convert other codes, use the NAICS to SIC converter. The SEC keeps its own shorter list: restaurant companies on EDGAR carry 5812 (Retail-Eating Places) or 5810 (Retail-Eating & Drinking Places, a group code), and there's no 5813.

How many US restaurants use each code

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, the Census Bureau's count of establishments with paid employees:

Full-service restaurants are fewer but employ more people and pay more: about $28,000 in payroll per employee against $20,900 (our calculation; part-time staff count as whole employees).

The top five states match. Full-service: California 31,333, Texas 20,819, New York 19,661, Florida 18,200 and Illinois 9,928. Limited-service: California 34,527, Texas 24,360, New York 17,791, Florida 15,969 and Illinois 10,622.

CBP counts locations with paid employees, not companies: a 40-restaurant chain counts 40 times, and owner-only restaurants aren't counted. CBP 2023 uses NAICS 2017, but no restaurant code changed in 2022, so the counts match the codes above.

SBA size standards for restaurant codes

For federal contracts, the SBA compares your average annual receipts over your latest five complete fiscal years, including affiliates', with the standard for the contract's code. From the SBA's Table of Size Standards, effective March 17, 2023 (13 CFR 121.201 on the eCFR shows no later change):

The small business size standards page explains how receipts and affiliates are counted.

Where the code is used and what a wrong one costs

• Federal contracts. You list codes in SAM.gov, but the contracting officer sets one code per contract and your size is judged against it. A restaurant with $12 million in receipts is small for a 722513 contract but not a 722511 one. Any interested party can appeal a solicitation's code to the SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals within 10 days of its publication.
• Tax returns. The IRS activity codes match NAICS for restaurants (722511, 722513, 722514, 722515, 722410), but caterers and contract feeders share one IRS code, 722300, Special food services.

Finding restaurant companies by code

EDGAR lists public companies by SIC: SIC 5812 and SIC 5810. Some of the largest, with total revenue from each company's latest 10-K:

These are worldwide figures including franchise royalties and fees, and EDGAR's SIC isn't a NAICS code: Aramark, a food service contractor, is also filed under 5812. Public chains are a sliver of the 618,476 locations CBP counts. For independents and franchisees, health department permits and liquor licenses are the public lists (see selling to restaurants), and a Bebop search takes the same distinctions in plain language (full-service or quick-service, number of locations, state) and returns companies and contacts with the reason each fits.

Worked example: coding a restaurant group

Illustrative example. The company and figures are invented.

Copper Fork Hospitality (copperfork.example) runs three sit-down restaurants and a catering business in Ohio. Last year the restaurants took $7.4 million and catering $1.9 million. Average annual receipts over five fiscal years: $8.6 million.

1. Primary code. Restaurants are 80% of revenue ($7.4 million of $9.3 million) and guests pay after eating: 722511.
2. Extra code. It adds 722320, Caterers, in SAM.gov to show up for catering solicitations.
3. Size check. $8.6 million is under the 722511 limit of $11.5 million. Under the caterers' $9.0 million it's small with only $0.4 million to spare, so that's the line growth crosses first.
4. Other forms. A bank form asking for SIC gets 5812. On a Schedule C it would also be 722511; a caterer-first business would use 722300.

Next step: if you sell to restaurants rather than run one, read selling to restaurants for who decides at independents, franchises and chains, and where to find new openings.