We split every LA restaurant into verified national and regional brands versus everyone else, then compared how they score.
Chains cluster tight in the high 90s and almost never fall below an A. Independents spread out, bunch harder at the passing line, and drop below an A about 6.8× as often (5.4% versus 0.8%). A national brand is a predictable 96. An independent could be a 98 or a 74, and the only way to know is to check the number.
Median score across a brand's LA locations, the middle 80% of its stores (the bar), and the share below an A. The cleanest and the ones that lag, of 53 brands with 20-plus locations.
"Chain" means a verified national or regional brand (a curated list, gated by store-numbering and location count), not a shared name. Restaurants that merely share a generic name are counted as independents. Every number here comes from the LA County Department of Public Health inspection record. We translate the record; we don't change it. Cleanplate is not affiliated with or endorsed by the county.