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The Coach Score Index

1,850 menu items across 50 US restaurant chains, each scored for nutrient density by one published formula, and the whole dataset free to download. 7 chains are covered by their complete published menu; the rest by a curated sample.

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0). If you cite it, a link back to this page is all we ask.

The ranking

Chains are ordered by the average Coach Score across their scored menu. Choose a column heading to re-sort.

Read the Items column before comparing two chains. 7 of these 50 chains are scored on their complete published menu; the rest are scored on a curated sample of 10–17 items. A full menu includes the desserts, dressings and drinks a sample leaves out, so it scores lower — chains with complete data average 42.9 against 48.0 for the rest. Ranks are comparable within each group, not across them. The dataset below is the reliable part; treat the ordering as indicative.

How the Coach Score is calculated

The score rewards nutrient density per calorie and penalises the two things that most often make a dish worse than it looks. It runs from 0 to 100, starting from a neutral 50:

  • Protein density adds (protein ÷ calories) × 100 × 2.5
  • Fibre density adds (fibre ÷ calories) × 100 × 3.0
  • Fat share subtracts 30 points for every 1.0 that calories-from-fat exceeds 35% of total calories
  • Sodium density subtracts 10 points for every 1.0 that milligrams of sodium per calorie exceeds 1.0

The result is clamped to 0–100. It is a measure of nutritional density, not a verdict on whether a food is good — a 60 on a small side salad and a 60 on a grilled entrée are the same density, not the same meal. Read the longer explanation in what the score actually measures.

Where the numbers come from

1,320 of the 1,850 scored items come from the chains' own published nutrition data, pulled directly from their nutrition guides. The remainder are curated entries for chains that do not publish a machine-readable guide; the per-item CSV marks the source of every row so you can filter to published data alone.

Chains change menus constantly, and preparation varies by location. Treat this as a snapshot of published figures rather than a measurement of the plate in front of you.

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