The World's 50 Best Restaurants is a annual media recognizing excellence in Hospitality. Organized by William Reed, it covers the Global region. Established in 2002.
The World's 50 Best Restaurants is an annual ranking first published in 2002 in Restaurant magazine and now organized by UK-based media group William Reed. The list is compiled from the votes of a 1,120-member academy — food writers and critics, chefs, restaurateurs, and well-travelled gourmets — split into 28 regional panels of 40 voters each, with gender parity and at least a quarter of each panel rotating annually. Each voter casts 10 votes for restaurants where they have eaten in the previous 18 months, with a cap on home-region votes, and the process is independently adjudicated by Deloitte.
A place on the list — or the No. 1 spot — is among the most commercially consequential recognitions in global gastronomy, routinely filling reservation books for years and anchoring chefs' international reputations. Alongside the ranked 1–50 list (extended to 51–100), the program confers individual honors and runs sister lists for Asia and Latin America. The reveal happens at a ceremony each June that rotates between host cities — recent editions include Las Vegas (2024) and Turin (2025), Italy's first time hosting.
There is no entry route: restaurants cannot apply, be nominated, or pay to be considered, and no criteria checklist exists — inclusion is purely a function of academy votes from multiple countries or regions. For restaurateurs, the practical playbook is indirect: cook at a destination-worthy level, cultivate international visibility among the traveling food-expert community, and be patient. Awardee lists it as a benchmark recognition to track rather than a program to enter; the voting-system page explains the mechanics in full.