3 More Mid-Size U.S. Cities Ready for Smarter Restaurant Marketing

By Beatus Mídias · Published September 2026 · 6 min read

Springfield: the birthplace of cashew chicken

In 1963, chef David Leong invented cashew chicken at Leong's Tea House in Springfield, Missouri. More than 60 years later, over 70 restaurants across Missouri — most of them in the Springfield area — still serve their own version of the dish. Springfield is also the largest city in the Ozarks region and home to Bass Pro Shops' flagship store, but the cashew chicken story is the one that gives the city a genuine, ownable food identity.

Des Moines: 56 vendors, 29 countries

Des Moines hosts the World Food & Music Festival at Western Gateway Park downtown every year. The 2026 edition, held August 28-30, brought together 56 food vendors from 29 countries in the heart of Iowa's capital. That kind of international draw, in a city whose metro area grew 1.9% from 2023 to 2024 — its fastest pace of growth in a decade, according to the Des Moines Register — is a real demand signal, not a one-off event.

Reno: 250,000+ pounds of ribs

Reno's Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off is one of the largest barbecue festivals in the United States. The 2026 edition, held September 2-7, served more than 250,000 pounds of ribs over six days with roughly 23 competing teams. Reno also has genuine, decades-deep Basque food heritage, with Basque restaurants and a National Basque Sheepherders Monument that predate the city's current tech-driven growth.