I'm looking for a simple count of how many non-fast food restaurant
chains there are in the United States.  Data needs to be from the year
2000 or more recent.  I'm fairly flexible on the definition of a
restaurant chain,
but just one or two restaurants under a single owner would not
constitute a chain.  As long as I know how they define a chain
(whether 5+ units or 50+ units), I'm ok with it.  Must exclude fast
food chains.  An ideal answer would be there are x number of chains,
with an average of y restaurants per chain (or Y total restaurants),
but I'm primarily concerned w/ the # of chains, not units.

You should try contacting TDLinx based in Wilton, CT.  Segmenting,
coding and tracking restaurants and stores is what their business
does.  They should have all the counts you need.