{
  "population": "Published dine-in breakfast and brunch menu examples at the exact restaurants listed in this edition. All 50 states and Washington, DC have approved prices. The dataset is a publisher-selected panel, not a registry of all U.S. restaurants or a probability sample of diners.",
  "selection": "The full existing inventory was audited for discovery. Collection then followed 1,665 U.S. branch candidates in the existing city shortlists plus 27 researched branches in the nine added state markets. Existing source-linked pilot observations were retained. Accessible, eligible prices were approved; blocked, unpriced and ambiguous sources remain in the collection ledger. The much larger inventory outside this collection panel remains a discovery frame, not measured price evidence.",
  "units": "Each row is one named dish at one exact branch and its published price in USD. Recipes, portion counts, included sides and meal periods differ. A full griddle set may contain eggs and meat; a plain stack may not. Packages, children\u2019s items, sides, sharing plates, beverages and ordering-only prices are not pooled into individual-main statistics.",
  "verification": "Manual source reviews retain official menu and identity URLs. Structured entries require a matched official street address and ZIP, an eligible meal section, and a named menu item with an adjacent visible price matching its menu data. Ambiguous, conflicting and multi-location cases are withheld. Editorial QA removed a side misclassified in menu data and corrected sandwich categories. Restaurant operators have not independently confirmed every price, and no independent methods review is claimed.",
  "category": "Category summaries use the median of selected prices within each branch, then the median of those branch medians. Counts, ranges, place coverage and source groups accompany the summaries. These describe this panel. They are not national consumer-spend estimates or standardized baskets, and should not be used to declare a city cheapest.",
  "geography": "States are assigned to the four Census regions and nine divisions. Places follow restaurant postal addresses; municipal boundaries were not independently geocoded. A suburb keeps its own location rather than inheriting a parent guide\u2019s city. Overlapping guide associations never duplicate a branch nationally. International and unresolved territory guides stay outside the U.S. region totals.",
  "planner": "The planner models one selected named item and, where requested, one verified regular-coffee order per person. Prices are converted to integer cents before multiplication. Tax, optional gratuities, other purchases, booking and seating availability are not inferred. A modeled order is not an observed bill.",
  "fees": "Required, removable, group-threshold and payment-dependent charges remain separate. Unspecified payment with a relevant payment-dependent fee withholds the combined estimate. Multiple applicable charges with an unresolved stacking base withhold the total. An unverified policy does not become a zero-fee promise. Cash/debit scenarios do not establish all possible payment terms.",
  "coffee": "Only a priced regular-coffee order verified for the same branch is modeled. Cup sizes and refills are not standardized. No coffee amount is substituted from another restaurant or chain branch. Extra coffee is withheld for packages with unresolved beverage inclusions.",
  "dates": "Individual rows preserve their actual source-check dates from October 22 to October 25, 2026. A retrieval date does not prove the menu was newly printed. Older or undated files currently linked by operators retain that limitation; users should confirm changes directly.",
  "missingness": "Source URLs attempted, successful responses, branch candidates, approved prices, policy-reviewed branches and coffee-priced branches are distinct denominators. HTTP success is not editorial approval. The downloadable panel ledger retains unapproved candidates and scope gaps; missing prices, fees, hours or ownership are not imputed.",
  "sensitivity": "Branches with many selected dishes do not receive extra weight within category medians. Regional and category mix can still affect pooled descriptions. Source-domain groups are reported only as clustering proxies, not verified ownership counts. No population weights, margins of error, inflation rate, or restaurant affordability ranking is produced.",
  "limitations": "Accessible-menu and prior editorial selection create bias. Small state or local samples cannot represent all local restaurants. Mains with different portions and inclusions are not equivalent meals. The source-linked explorer supports specific choices and reported menu examples; it does not measure actual diner behavior, transactions, service quality, taste, or typical total spending.",
  "maintenance": "This version is a source snapshot. Rechecks must preserve branch and item identities, portions, dates and charge terms. Expanding coverage is not inflation. Corrected or withdrawn observations require a new version and a change note; the original baseline and five-city pilot downloads remain unchanged.",
  "funding": "Top Brunch Spots compiled the study. Official restaurant menus are cited for factual prices and policies. The charts and modeled calculations are original Top Brunch Spots work.",
  "corrections": "Send source corrections and media questions through https://topbrunchspots.com/contact/. Include the version, named item, exact branch and source-check date."
}