Who tops whom in Baltimore?

We know now that Baltimore is #2 in the country when it comes to restaurants and that sorely needed positive distinction would be even nicer if we wouldn't have to cede the first rank to, who would have thought: Pittsburgh!
But then, when we look at #3 it is nice to see we beat the nation's capital!

Talking about lists, I am looking at the Business Journal's book of lists and see the following remarkable entries:

We all know the highest rated restaurant in which most people haven't eaten yet due to the high menu prices is the Charleston at Harbor East. But who would have though the diPasquales would land on rank #12 even before Woodberry Kitchen (#16) and the Helmand (#25), all according to Zagat.

Cindy Wolf's Charleston at Harbor East, #1 restaurant

Maryland's #1 tourist attraction by attendance: Maryland Live Casino: 10 million people, followed by Power Plant and Power Plant Live (Cordish knows how to provide the right numbers!) but then on rank 4, miracle over miracles the Lexington Market with 3.2 million visitors which beats even Oriole Park (2.46 million).

As far as Maryland's largest manufacturers, most know the biggest is Northrop Grumman with 9,300 Maryland employees (64,000 overall) but who know that #2, Lockheed Martin has less than 1/3 as many Maryland employees or that McCormick is almost as big in the State and sits on rank 3.
Stanley/Black&Decker is #8 and Domino Sugar #15.

The largest employer is Johns Hopkins (University and Hospital combined with 52,000 area employees), Southwest Airlines is a large local employer, too (rank 17), Under Armour is #21, but when it comes to revenue Colfax is #1 ($4.6 billion), McCormick #2 and Under Armour #4 (3.08 billion) ahead of Legg Mason with $2.82 billion. The largest Minority owned business is Radio One (1,360 employees). Ayers Saint Gross is the largest architecture firm with nearly $34 million in billings followed by HCM with $21.97 million, Gensler is #4, CBH #17 and Ziger Snead #18. AECOM is the largest engineering firm (186 local engineers) followed by #2 Whitman Requardt (145 engineers). Whiting Turner is the biggest contractor, Veneable the largest law firm and Long and Foster the largest real estate firm.

The largest Charitable Foundations is Casey followed by the Weinberg Foundation and the Abell Foundation on rank 3. Goldsecker sits on #8. The largest non-profit is Catholic Relief.

Who knew that Flying Dog (Frederick, MD) is the largest Brewery followed by Clipper Mill/Heavy Seas (Baltimore) with Union Craft (Baltimore) on rank 8.


So, there you go. If you or your company are not listed, it may be so because you forgot to report to the Business Journal or maybe you still need to grow. But maybe you just don't care about growth and size at all, then these lists are not for you at all, except for the bit about restaurants, which is about quality not size.

That should set a new standard!

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA