TAMPA, Fla. — With new restaurants seemingly popping up on every corner, Tampa is growing into quite the destination for food lovers near and far.
In fact, one study recently ranked it among the top 25 most "food-forward" cities in the U.S. out of 158.
Tampa snuck in at No. 24, just a few places behind Orlando which was ranked No. 20.
Other Florida cities in the top 25 include West Palm Beach at No. 12 and Miami at No. 3. The No. 1 most "food-forward" city on the list was San Francisco.
According to food industry research company Datassential, which conducted the study, being "food-forward" is not just about having a lot of trendy restaurants, but rather about having a growing and diverse restaurant scene.
"It’s the diversity of cuisines, the prevalence of emerging foods and flavor trends and residents’ appetite for varied menus, that make a city food forward," the study says.
But, how can "food-forwardness" be calculated?
Datassential used three main factors.
The first is a method called "Race to 90" that researchers used to count how many different types of cuisines are in a given city. It measures how many cuisines it takes to add up to 90% of a city's restaurants.
For example, if 45% of a city's restaurants are Mexican and 45% are BBQ joints, that would make for two different cuisines accounting for 90% of restaurants. The top city in this category was Miami with 29 different cuisines. And Tampa wasn't far behind with 27 different cuisines.
"The higher the number of cuisines to hit that magic 90% mark, the higher the food-forwardness ranking of a particular city," Datassential researchers wrote.
The second factor, ethnic diversity, is a little more straightforward. It compares the number of ethnic vs. non-ethnic restaurants in a given city. The third factor is all about spotting the trendsetters. It uses a menu analysis system to highlight "that a particular city was responsible for giving life to new food trends."
This list isn't the first time Tampa's food scene has been recognized on a national level.
Last month, Tampa's Salt Shack on the Bay made the New York Times ranking of America's best restaurants for 2023. and earlier this year, three Tampa restaurants received a highly-coveted Michelin star.