Olive Garden, Chick-fil-A Top Restaurant Sales List

Fayetteville eateries Olive Garden Italian Restaurant and the Northwest Village location of Chick-fil-A have crossed the $2 million mark in revenue through the first seven months of fiscal 2011, according to data provided by the Fayetteville Advertising & Promotion Commission.

Olive Garden has totaled nearly $2.19 million in the period from Dec. 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011. That’s just slightly ahead of revenue collected by Chick-fil-A ($2.11 million).

Chartwells Dining, the University of Arkansas cafeteria, with $2.4 million in revenue, was intentionally excluded from the current list of top revenue-producing restaurants in the city.

Also excluded were Penguin Ed’s Barbeque ($16.34 million) and Rick’s Bakery ($14.55 million). Penguin Ed’s combines revenues from its three locations. Rick’s Bakery is primarily a bakery and not a restaurant.

In Bentonville, six of the city’s top 10 earners are fast-food restaurants.

Bentonville’s lone Chick-fil-A franchise, at 209 S. Walton Blvd., leads the pack in revenue collected this year with $1.61 million. Those totals reflect money collected Jan. 1 through July 31.

Eurest Dining, the Walmart home office cafeteria, with $3.11 million in sales, was intentionally excluded. Also excluded from the top 10 were Sam’s Club ($1.29 million) and Walmart Supercenter Deli ($1.05 million), due to the fact their primary business isn’t as that of a restaurant.

The rankings are based on a 1 percent hotel-motel-restaurant, or “hamburger,” tax collected by the cities of Bentonville and Fayetteville for their respective advertising & promotion commissions.

Neither Rogers nor Springdale collect the tax on restaurants; therefore, sales numbers for restaurants in those towns cannot be reliably reported.