This page explains where the numbers on Well.now come from and what the labels beside them mean. It covers how a nutrition figure is sourced, how it is checked, how it is dated, when it is called an estimate, and why most menu prices on the site show Varies rather than a dollar amount.
The short version: nutrition figures come from the restaurant's own US publications wherever those exist, prices come from a restaurant's own online menu only when that menu publishes a price, and anything we could not confirm is labelled instead of guessed.
Where nutrition figures come from
Whenever possible, figures come from the chain's own US nutrition material: a published nutrition guide in PDF, a nutrition and allergen page, or the nutrition panel on a US product page. Those are documents the restaurant itself maintains, and each one is linked on the brand page beside the items it covers.
- Chain's own nutrition guide or PDF: labelled Verified, with the document linked
- Chain's own product or nutrition pages: labelled Verified, with the page linked
- Third-party database: labelled Estimate, with the database named and linked
Sometimes a chain does not publish complete figures we can read for the items we list. In that case the numbers come from a reputable third-party nutrition database such as Nutritionix. Those rows are labelled Estimate, the database is named and linked, and the page states plainly that the figures are not from the restaurant itself.
One more detail matters. When the newest official guide we can reach is several years old, the page names its publication date, because an older guide deserves more care than one published this year.
How a nutrition figure is checked
A figure is written down only after it has been read from the source for that specific item and that specific size. A medium side and a large side are different rows. A single donut and a donut variety pack are different rows. Where a guide reports one item without spread, or one entree size, the page says which version the numbers describe.
Figures are recorded as the source gives them. Calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat and sodium are copied rather than rounded or recalculated, so a reader comparing our table with the restaurant's guide sees the same numbers.
If the source does not report an item, the item is not listed. Six items with solid figures beat thirty items with half of them invented.
Why every item carries a last checked date
Recipes change, item names change and guides get republished. A figure with no date is a figure you cannot judge. Every brand page shows the date its data was last checked against the sources, and the guide or product page it came from is linked, so you can confirm it yourself in a minute.
Where the source document itself carries a date, such as a nutrition guide from March 2025 or June 2026, the label on the page names that date too. That tells you whether you are reading this season's menu or an older one.
When a figure is labelled Estimate
Estimate means the number did not come from the restaurant. On this site it means the figures were taken from Nutritionix because the chain's own complete figures could not be read for the items we list. The label sits beside the item, the database is linked, and the page states that the data is third-party rather than the restaurant's own.
Estimate figures are still useful for comparing one item against another inside the same brand. They are less reliable for comparing across brands, because a third-party database may be working from an older recipe or a different portion. Treat them as a reasonable guide and check the restaurant's own material when the number matters to you.
The same note follows the figures into the nutrition calculator: if you build a meal from any brand with estimated figures, the totals you see carry the estimate disclaimer.
What the price column tells you
The price column is read differently from the nutrition columns, because a price is a local fact rather than a published standard. Here is what each state means when you see it in a table.
- A dollar figure: published by the restaurant for one named location, with that menu linked
- Varies: no published price we could confirm, so nothing is guessed
- A community price: what a diner actually paid, shown with the city and date on the community page
- A note on the brand page: what the price situation is for that chain, and where to check
How ratings are worked out
A star score on this site is the average of posts diners have written on the community page, and nothing else. The average is worked out from those posts each time the page loads, and the count beside it is how many posts went into it.
We do not import star scores from Google, Yelp or Trustpilot and print them as our own number, because we cannot verify those figures or keep them current. Instead, brand cards link to the restaurant's review pages on those services so you can read them where they live.
A brand with no posts has no score. The card shows the review links instead of a rating, which is the honest answer: nobody has told us yet.
What we do not do
It is worth stating the exclusions, because they are the reason some tables on this site look shorter than the same table elsewhere.
- No invented ratings or review counts
- No prices scraped from other blogs and presented as national
- No calories rounded to look neater than the source
- No location counts or franchise costs we cannot source
- No generated copy published without a person checking it against a source
Reporting a wrong figure or asking for a brand
Write to be@well.now with the brand, the item and what you found. A link to the restaurant's own page or guide is the fastest route to a fix, because we can confirm it and update the table in one pass. A photo of a nutrition panel or menu board, with the city and the date, works too.
Brand requests follow the same logic: a page needs the chain's own US nutrition material before it can be published, so that we can show a source and a date rather than a guess. Tell us the chain and, if you have it, the link to its guide.
Frequently asked questions
Why do most prices say Varies?
Because most US chains do not publish a national price for an item. Prices are set restaurant by restaurant, so a single number would be misleading. We print a dollar figure only when the restaurant's own menu publishes one, and we name the location it came from.
What does Estimate actually mean?
It means the figure came from a named third-party database rather than the restaurant, because the chain's own complete figures could not be read for that item. The database is linked on the page so you can check it.
Can a brand have a verified price but estimated nutrition?
Yes. Prices and nutrition are sourced separately. A price can come from the chain's official menu for one location while its nutrition figures come from a third-party database, and each is labelled on its own.
Can I use your table in my own article?
Yes. Link back to the page you took it from and mention the source and last checked date, so your readers can judge how current the figures are.
How often is data re-checked?
Every brand page carries the date its figures were last checked against the sources. Pages are re-checked when a chain republishes its guide, when an item changes, or when a reader reports a problem with a link.
Why don't you show Google's star rating?
We cannot verify another service's score or keep it current, so we do not print it as our own number. Brand cards link to the restaurant's Google, Yelp and Trustpilot pages instead, and any star score you see here is an average of diner posts on this site.
The takeaway
Nutrition figures come from each chain's own US guide or product pages wherever we could read them, and from a named third-party database where we could not, labelled Estimate. Prices appear only when a restaurant's own menu publishes one, with the location named; everywhere else they show Varies. Ratings are averages of diner posts on this site. Report a wrong figure to be@well.now.