“As Told By the Numbers”
In January 2017, I found myself with some extra time outside of work. I had always been a fan of San Francisco Restaurant Week since my impoverished college student days- when my love of good food was often at odds with my bank account. Back then the event was still called "Dine About Town" and though I'm always very grateful to each year's participating restaurants, I had always wondered... were these deals worth it?
I decided to find out.
2017: The First Year
The approach was simple: for each restaurant and meal offered (e.g. lunch, dinner, etc.), tally up the highest-priced item for each course. The sum of each highest-priced item created the highest-possible value of the meal. I then compared this meal total against the price of the prix-fixe menu to determine "the best deal".
These numbers were then populated into a spreadsheet, which depicted rankings based on the absolute difference (e.g. +$26) or the % difference (e.g. 4.2X prix-fixe price). I also created a heatmap, which showed each restaurant and their provided menu tier, along with color-coded cells which indicated the deal's absolute value.
Ultimately, Dosa, Maruya, and Roka Akor rose to the top.
2018: Itemization
For the following year, I wanted to provide more transparency in how the numbers were tallied up. I used the same approach as 2017, but also provided price substitutes when menus offered an item that was not priced on their regular menu.
Based on feedback from the previous year, I also took into account the restaurant's reputation, using Yelp ratings and review volume as a secondary ranking factor.
The resulting spreadsheet was much more comprehensive than the previous year, containing booking URLs, itemized breakdowns, and notes in corresponding cells on the specific items used to calculate the total.
For this year, Canela Bistro & Wine Bar, Lolinda, and Flores ranked at the top.