DASH Guide:Fast Food Establishments

This guide is just part of a larger DASH Data Guide.

The Allegheny County Health Department has generated this list of fast food restaurants by exporting all chain restaurants without an alcohol permit from the County’s Fee and Permit System. A chain restaurant defined by the County is any restaurant that has more than one location in the County. Chain restaurants capture both local and national chains (including locally owned national chains) so long as there is one or more establishments in operation within the County.

What's Included in the Data

Publicly Available

• Client ID
• Name
• Legal Name
• Start Date
• Street #
• Street Name
• Zipcode
• Latitude
• Longitude
• Fast Food Category

Where to Find the Data

• Open Data on the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center's Website
• Interactive Map

Things to Know

The Allegheny County Health Department had initially created this list for internal analysis and reports. In producing this data, County employees have attempted to categorize fast food restaurants. A base qualification for restaurants to be considered “fast food” is that they fall under the North American Industry Classification System as a limited service restaurant (pay for food before receiving it). Full definitions for limited service restaurants and further category definitions can be found below. On multiple occasions a fast food location qualified for more than one category In these cases Health Department employees choose the category that fit each description best acknowledging that there is some subjectivity in this process.

Category definitions

Dollar Menu - A limited service restaurant* whose foods contain a combination of high carbohydrate, fat, sugar, and/or sodium counts. Restaurants in this category have multiple menu options priced at 1$ or below , and offer drive through, eat in, and take out dining options(McDonald’s, Burger king, etc.)

No Dollar Menu - A limited service restaurant* whose foods contain a combination of high carbohydrate, fat, sugar, and/or sodium counts. Restaurants in this category do not have any menu options priced at 1$ or below and offer both eat in and take out dining options. (Chipotle, Subway, etc.)

Take Out- A limited service restaurant* whose foods contain a combination of high carbohydrate, fat, sugar, and/or sodium counts. Restaurants in this category offer takeout and delivery options with only a small or nonexistent dining area. (Example Pizza, Chinese food, etc.)

Dessert, drinks, other- A limited service restaurant* whose foods and drinks contain a combination of high carbohydrate, fat, sugar, and/or sodium counts. Restaurants in this category offer menu items that are not part of a typical American lunch or dinner menu, rather they would be typically be drunk or eaten for breakfast, a snack, or dessert. (Dunkin Doughnuts, Ice cream shop, etc.)

*Limited-service restaurants (defined by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 722211) include establishments primarily engaged in providing food services (except snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars) where patrons generally order or select items and pay before eating. Food and drink may be consumed on premises, taken out, or delivered to the customer's location. - USDA.gov. For this data set the ACHD has excluded limited services restaurants that have permits to serve alcohol.