How ranking works

Ranked by real people. Nothing else.

This is the whole method — how a spot rises, what counts, and what we refuse to do. If a “best of” list won’t show you this page, it’s probably for sale.

The promise

Ranked by real people.

Rank can’t be bought.

No paid placement, ever.

Every ranking on FoodRank is decided by the votes of people who eat in your city — one real person, one account. Restaurants and sponsors can’t buy a spot, move a spot, or pay one down.

How a rank is earned

The whole method, in the open.

Votes decide the order

A restaurant’s rank in a category is the count of community votes it holds this week. That’s the whole ranking function.

One real person per vote

Voting requires a verified account. We dedupe, and each account gets six restaurant votes a month, with a seven-day wait before you can back the same place again — no vote farms, no anonymous ballot stuffing.

Recency keeps it honest

Movement (“up 3 this week”) is public. A spot holds its rank by staying loved, not by a one-time push.

The tally is public

Vote counts show inline on every board. You can watch the math, not just the result.

What we don’t do

The lines we won’t cross.

No paid placement

No amount of money buys, boosts, or reserves a spot on any board.

No pay-to-remove

A restaurant can’t pay to bury a rival or scrub its own lower rank.

No editorial thumb

We don’t hand-place favorites. Staff picks, if any, are labeled and never ranked.

No bots or bought votes

We detect and drop inauthentic votes. Sponsors present contests; they never cast in them.

The full method, data practices, and the third parties we rely on are documented in our Privacy Policy and Terms — in plain language, with real names.