TOTW Training Guide

Click on the different tabs to understand how to perform our HITs.

This guide is designed to walk you through some common scenarios encountered when conducting our HITs. We will update it regularly, so be sure to check here first if you ever have questions in the future.

Overall process

Use the following flow chart to help you make decisions on whether a restaurant listing is open. We'll go into more detail about each decision point on subsequent tabs. A few things to keep in mind along the way:

  • The links provided are just a starting point for research.
  • Sometimes the information provided in the listing is inaccurate; we expect you to update this whenever necessary.
  • We expect workers to be thorough.

In this HIT we are asking you to confirm whether a location is a valid restaurant that is open for business, based on research you conduct online. Note: we have combined the options for "Closed" and "I don't know". If you cannot find enough information to judge the restaurant as open, please choose this option.

What sources should I use to research each establishment?

  • BEST: Focus on finding a webpage on the restaurant's official website that lists address and contact details for this specific location (for restaurant chains using a store locator is a helpful way to look up a specific location)
  • If no official website exists, try to find an official Facebook page - i.e., one that is created by and includes posts from the restaurant. A user-generated and editable Facebook location page is not sufficient evidence.
  • If you cannot find any official online presence, use the Google Search link to search for a third-party website that has a listing for this restaurant. Focus on third-party sites with recent (i.e., within the last 6 months) content such as reviews and photos. Directory sites without reviews are not sufficient evidence that a restaurant is open.
  • If you cannot find any suitable URL to support your judgment, paste in the URL from your Google search results into the Google Search URL field.

How do I know if an establishment is a restaurant?

Criteria for restaurants:

  • Must serve meals, prepared food and/or refreshments - this encompasses cafes/coffee shops, bakeries, sandwich shops, delis, fast food, and casual dining as well as formal fine dining
  • Must be open to the general public
  • Must have tables and places to sit down or be strictly take-out
  • Stationary - i.e., can be found at a specified address/location (permitted exception: food trucks, moving or stationary, with an official website qualify)
  • MUST be family-friendly (i.e., no strip clubs)

Not considered a restaurant:

  • Grocery stores, convenience stores or food markets even those that serve prepared-food, have a deli or bakery should not be classified as restaurants
  • Food wholesaler/distributor and restaurant supply businesses
  • Catering businesses; Personal chefs
  • Banquet and event spaces for private functions or members clubs
  • Places that only serve alcoholic drinks and not food (e.g., some bars and pubs)
  • Non-family friendly places including hookah bars and cigar lounges

How do I know if an establishment is still open?

Criteria for judging a restaurant to be open:

  • Listed on restaurant's official website OR
  • Valid Facebook page for the location with activity within the past 6 months OR
  • At least one review or photo from the past six months on a third-party site

Criteria for judging a restaurant to be closed:

  • Not listed on official website
  • Direct evidence restaurant went out of business
  • Last activity on official social media presence or third party review site over 6 months ago

What if some details about the restaurant have changed?

There are several common scenarios:

  • The name of the restaurant has changed, but all other details are the same, including phone number: Please list the restaurant as open, but remember to update the name before you submit.
  • The address on the official website has the same street, but a different street number: if the street number is only slightly different (e.g., it may be a typo in our listing), update the address and judge it as still open. Otherwise, judge it as closed.
  • If we haven't provided an official URL, but you are able to find one, please update the details before you submit.

Tips on using store locators

Many chain restaurants (big and small) provide store locators on their sites. These can be very helpful in finding a specific location, but keep these things in mind:

  • If you can't immediately find a location by searching for zip code, try searching for city, state or even the entire address
  • Another trick is to try widening the search radius (e.g., from 5 miles to 25 miles)
  • Some sites only show a limited number of locations in their results - to make sure the location you're looking for is included in the results, try searching for the actual address
  • Sometimes the information in our listing is inaccurate (e.g., zip code may be off, address may be off by one number), so please be thorough in your search and update the restaurant details if you find any discrepancies
  • Sometimes a site search can look like a store locator. Make sure you use the store locator when you search!

Case studies (use arrows to navigate)

How to determine a valid Facebook page

In using a Facebook page as proof of existence for a particular restaurant, it must:

  • Be a page, not a place. Pages look like profiles, while places have limited information and users can add/edit info at the bottom.
  • Be for the specific location, not the overall brand
  • Have activity within the last 6 months

Examples (use arrows to navigate)

Frequently Asked Questions/ Common Scenarios

What should I do if the listing is for a hotel?

This one can be tough. Try to distinguish if the listing name is for the hotel itself, or for a restaurant inside a hotel. If the name is clearly the hotel itself (e.g., The Westin Times Square), please mark the listing as "not a restaurant". If the name is a restaurant in a hotel, you may mark it as a restaurant and use the hotel's website as the "official" site if no other exists.

How can I tell if a bar should be classified as a non-restaurant?

Look for clues as to whether it serves food and is family-friendly. If there is an official site, look for a menu link. If not, read some third party reviews to see if food in mentioned.

Can bowling alleys that serve food be classified as a restaurant?

In most cases, you should consider bowling alleys to be "not a restaurant" unless there is a separately named restaurant within the bowling alley.

What about ice cream shops and coffee shops?

Both are considered to be restaurants.

Is Papa Murphy's a restaurant?

While they do offer a full dinner menu, since their main model is "take and bake" at home, we do not consider it a restaurant.

What about Casey's General Store?

They do have a pretty full menu, but they are mainly marketed as a general store, so we do not consider it to be a restaurant.

I found a site that pulls in reviews from Yelp. Does this qualify as a valid third party site?

Please click through to the original source of the reviews in this situation. Often sites will pull in reviews for the wrong restaurant, so click through to be sure it is the correct location.

How to determine a valid third party page

Acceptable party pages must represent the specific location in the listing and have user-generated content (reviews and/or photos) from the last 6 months.

Keep in mind the following:

  • Many review sites do not sort by date by default, so remember to sort by date to see the most recent review
  • Read the most recent review; sometimes the reviewer will state that the restaurant is closed
  • Some menu sites pull in reviews from Yelp or other review sites. Make sure to click through to the original source of these reviews, as often they are pulled in for the wrong restaurant.

Examples (use arrows to navigate)