New Illinois (Chicago) liquor license and restaurant filings: where to find them
City of Chicago (business license applications) publishes business license applications, including restaurants, bars and food retailers. It is a public record, updated daily, and anyone can read it.
In the last 30 days we recorded 73 Illinois (Chicago) filings, picked up a median of 1 day after the filing date. Few of them come with a phone number, so reaching the owner usually means looking them up.
What the agency publishes
City of Chicago (business license applications) makes these records public: business license applications, including restaurants, bars and food retailers. A record shows who applied, the premises address, the license type and a date. That is enough to know a venue is on its way, and to know which stage it has reached.
This is Chicago only, not the state of Illinois. The city's data includes every business license type, so filter to food and liquor license codes first.
Read it yourself, for free
The source is open. If you have the time, you can pull it directly:
Filter to the license types that matter to you, drop duplicates, and check the newest rows each morning. The catch is the daily work, and that many records leave out a phone number or email.
What Ribbon Leads adds
We read the City of Chicago's filings daily, fold duplicate rows into one venue, label the stage, and match a phone number and website where we can find one. You get the new ones by email instead of a spreadsheet to maintain. The free Monday list is the same filings, seven days behind and without contact details.
Recent Illinois (Chicago) filings
The public view, 7 days behind and without contact details.
Cities with the most filings
Common questions
Is this list public?
Yes. These are public records, and the City of Chicago publishes them. Ribbon Leads is not affiliated with any government agency; it reads the published record and says where each row came from.
How soon after a filing does the venue open?
It varies. An application means the owner has started the process, not that a date is set. Build-out, inspections and approvals can take weeks to many months, which is the window a supplier or service company has to reach them first.
Does every filing have a phone number?
No. Many records carry none, and in some states almost none do. We match a phone and website where we can find them; the share for Illinois (Chicago) is shown above.
More: how vendors find restaurants before they open · every state we cover
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