10 LARGEST RESTAURANT CHAINS IN THE U.S.
McDonald’s remained the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. by sales and there were no changes in the Top 5. But Chipotle Mexican Grill moved up two spots, overtaking Burger King and Subway.
Source: Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report
McDonald’s, the largest chain in the world, grew sales by just 0.6% amid consumer frustration over prices and then an end-of- year e. coli outbreak in Colorado. Starbucks’ sales fell 0.5% in 2024—its worst year since the Great Recession—following strikes, a social media backlash and concern over the company’s service. “The biggest reason is the relatively meager performance of our two biggest operators,” Lizzy Freier, senior director, menu research and insights with Technomic, said at the Restaurant Leadership Conference on Monday. Chick-fil-A’s sales grew 5.4%, which was comparatively stronger than the other two. But that was also the weakest year in at least 20 years for the chicken-sandwich chain. But general weakness was pervasive among the largest chains. Of the 20 biggest concepts, 12 generated sales growth that was weaker than menu prices. And six of the 20 largest chains generated sales declines, including Subway (down 3.8%), Panera Bread (down 5.1%), Pizza Hut (down 0.5%), Sonic (down 2.7%) and KFC (down 5.2%), along with Starbucks. Among industry sectors on the Top 500, fast-casual chains grew the most, with sales up 9%. No other sector generated sales growth matching menu-price inflation. Quick-service chains, beset by frustration over high prices
and weakness by the largest chains, grew sales just 2.3% last year. Casual-dining chains, which faced numerous bankruptcies of large chains like Red Lobster and TGI Friday’s, grew just 1.3%. The performance of fast-casual chains was accentuated by the strong performance of brands like Chipotle Mexican Grill and Raising Cane’s. Chipotle was by far the best performer among the 10 largest chains, growing system sales by 14.7% to $11.2 billion. It also moved up past both Burger King and Subway. Sales at the sandwich giant, the largest chain in the U.S. by unit count with 19,770 restaurants, declined 3.8% to $9.5 billion. Further down is No. 18 Raising Cane’s. The fast-casual chicken chain’s system sales grew 32% in 2024, to nearly $5 billion. The company did this with a combination of unit growth (up 14%) and higher average unit volumes, which are now $6.6 million. The fast-casual chain not only debuted on the Top 20, it surpassed the quick-service chain KFC, which is now the fourth largest chicken chain in the country after its sales declined 5.2% to $4.9 billion. “Raising Cane’s, you didn’t think about them five, 10 years ago,” said Kevin Schimpf, senior director of research and insights at Technomic. “Raising Cane’s is fun, it’s cool, I like it, it’s new. I’ll spend whatever because
it’s tasty and it’s got a great sauce. So it certainly does help.” KFC by the end of this year will likely fall to the fifth spot on that list, Wingstop is also surging. The chicken-wing chain’s system sales grew 37% to $4.4 billion. It is now No. 24 on the ranking, having surpassed Arby’s, which struggled to a 6.3% sales decline last year. The performance of Chipotle, Raising Cane’s and Wingstop highlights a key theme in 2024: Consumers dramatically shifted their visits away from more traditional restaurant concepts to newer, up-and-coming brands with more focused menus around specific items or service styles. Limited-service chicken chains thrived last year, for instance. Among those brands in the broader Top 1,500 list, sales grew nearly 9% in 2024. At limited-service Mexican chains, sales grew 8.6%. In addition to Chipotle, strong performance by Taco Bell—which grew sales by 8.1% last year to $16.2 billion. The “other” category, including everything from quick-service bowl chains to fast-casual Mediterranean brands like the surging Cava (No. 63, with sales at just under $1 billion, up 33%) generated 7.4% sales growth. On the other hand, limited-service burger, pizza and sandwich chains on the Top 1,500— more traditional fast-food—grew sales less than 1% last year.
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS JULY 2025
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