How we spot Florida openings
Every row on a Florida New Openings list traces back to a public state record. This page explains the two sources we read, how often we read them, how a filing gets assigned to a metro, what the three signals mean, what “opening” does and does not mean, and how to get a mistake fixed.
Two public sources
1. DBPR food-service licenses. The Division of Hotels and Restaurants at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation licenses public food service establishments: restaurants, cafés, bars that serve food, counter-service spots, hotel and venue kitchens. The license record includes the business name, the licensed address, the license type, the seat count where it applies, the licensee and the inspection history. A new license with no inspection yet is the strongest early sign of an opening we know of. How that license works.
2. Sunbiz new business filings. The Florida Division of Corporations publishes every new LLC and corporation with its name, principal address, registered agent and filing date. Most of those filings are not storefronts. We keep the ones whose name and address read like a place you could walk into: a kitchen, grill, bakery, salon, studio, boutique, market or shop, at a commercial-looking address. How to read one.
We do not use private databases, social media, review sites or tips. If it is not in a state record, it is not on the list.
Daily reads
Both sources are read every day. Each record is compared with what we already hold; anything new is added with the date we first saw it, which is the “Seen” date on every list. A record is never typed in by hand, and the numbers on every page, from the count in the headline to the chips by city, are calculated from the live data when the page is served, not written in advance.
Metro assignment, by county
Florida filings carry a county, and we use the county to place each record in a metro:
- Orlando: Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties
- Tampa: Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties
- Miami: Miami-Dade County
- Jacksonville: Duval, St. Johns, Clay and Nassau counties
- Fort Lauderdale: Broward County
- West Palm Beach: Palm Beach County
Records outside those counties are kept but not shown on a metro page yet; they are included in the statewide Pro export. The city shown on a list is the city on the filing itself.
The three signals
- Licensed, not yet inspected. A DBPR food-service license is in the state file with no inspection recorded against it. The business has cleared its paperwork and is close to opening, or has just opened.
- New license this week. A food-service license that appeared in the state file for the first time in the last seven days.
- New business filing. A new LLC or corporation registered with the Division of Corporations whose name and address read like a storefront. Earlier and less certain than a license.
Each record also gets a category: Restaurant, Food & drink, Takeout & counter service, Hotel & venue dining, or Shop & services. The category pages (for example Orlando restaurants, Tampa coffee shops & bakeries, Miami shops & retail or Fort Lauderdale salons & spas) group records by license type and by words in the business name, so one record can appear in two categories, such as a café that is both a restaurant and a coffee shop.
What “opening” means, and does not
On this site, an opening is a business with a fresh public filing that points to a new place opening to the public. It is not a confirmation that the doors are open today, a grand-opening date or a review. Licensed restaurants are usually days to weeks from service. New business filings can be months out, and some never open at all: leases fall through, concepts change, names get replaced. We say “a filing is a signal, not a promise” on every list for that reason.
We also do not infer anything a record does not say. If a filing lists no seat count, we show none. If a city is missing from the record, the city column is blank. Where a record is ambiguous we leave it off the category pages rather than guess.
Free and Pro
The free list shows the business name, category, city, signal and date for the last 14 days in each metro, plus the open archive of older weeks. Pro adds the street address, the licensee, the phone number where the state record has one, seat counts, 90 days of history, alerts and a CSV export. Both come from the same records; Pro simply shows more of each one.
Accuracy and corrections
State files can be late, incomplete or wrong, and a name-matching rule will occasionally put a business in the wrong category. When that happens we want to know. If a listing about your business is wrong or you would like it removed, use the contact form; a person reads every message and we fix or remove the row, usually within one business day. Corrections are made at the source so they carry through to every page and email.
Browse the lists
This week by metro: Orlando · Tampa · Miami · Jacksonville · Fort Lauderdale · West Palm Beach. Week by week: Orlando · Tampa · Miami · Jacksonville · Fort Lauderdale · West Palm Beach.
Questions people ask
Where does the data come from?
Two public state sources: the food-service license file published by DBPR’s Division of Hotels and Restaurants, and new business filings from the Florida Division of Corporations on Sunbiz. Nothing is scraped from private sites or social media.
How often is it updated?
We read both sources every day. The date next to each row is the day the record first appeared in our read of the state file, and the counts on every page are computed from the live data when the page is served.
Does “opening” mean the place is open?
No. It means a public filing shows a business getting ready to open. Licensed restaurants are usually days to weeks from service; new business filings can be months out and some never open.
A listing about my business is wrong. What do I do?
Use the contact form. A person reads every message and we correct or remove the row, usually within one business day.
Get your metro’s openings list every Monday
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See this week’s lists: Orlando · Tampa · Miami · Jacksonville · Fort Lauderdale · West Palm Beach.