Our winners are ranked using a fair and transparent two-step process:

1. Vote Percentage: The Best of Times start by calculating the total number of votes each business receives in a category. The top three are selected based on the busienesses that received the highest percentage of votes.
2. Average Ranking (Tie-Breaker): If there’s a tie in total votes, they will be listed in yellow , the Best of Times uses the business’s average rank score to break the tie if possible. This reflects how each voter ranked the business (1st, 2nd, or 3rd place).

Example: If a business received 30 votes and their total rank score was 40 (e.g., twenty #1 votes and ten #2 vote), then the average rank would be:

40 ÷ 30 = 1.33

A lower average rank indicates that voters consistently rated the business higher, so in the event of a tie, the business with the better (lower) average ranking is placed higher.