Last year was a tough year for traditional fast-food chains, although you wouldn’t necessarily notice it if you looked at a list of America’s 25 Best Restaurant Chains. Nation’s Restaurant News compiles its annual ranking of the top 100 restaurants based on sales. In the 2017 list (using 2016 data), McDonald’s, as expected, tops the list. In fact, Mickey D’s had sales of $36.4 billion last year, making it “bigger than Starbucks, Subway and
Dominoes combined,” according to the NRN.
But while limited-service burger chains were one of six segments that lost market share, according to NRN, the beverage and snacks segment and the pizza segment were two areas that saw growth, led by brands like Starbucks and Domino’s, respectively. Chicken was another segment to see an increase in overall market share, led in part by Chick-fil-A, which “was the biggest move among the top 10 restaurant chains by total revenue.”
If you’re wondering how the other top 25 fared, here’s the full list of 2016 sales…3 billion)
4) Taco Bell ($9.4 billion)
5) Burger King ($9.3 billion)
1) McDonald’s ($36.4 billion)
McDonald’s is the largest fast -Food restaurant in the world and one of the most valuable and well-known brands in the world. Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald’s, McDonald’s today has more than 36,000 stores in 100 countries and serves 69 million customers every day.Over 60% of McDonald’s restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees, with the remainder being owned by the company itself. The company’s global sales for 2015 totaled $36.4 billion.
2) Starbucks ($19.17 billion)
Starbucks is a coffeehouse chain founded in 1971 in Seattle.It is the largest coffee company in the world with over 20,000 offices in 65 countries. Starbucks operates both branded and licensed stores and sells products through other retail outlets. The company had total sales of $19.17 billion in 2015.
3) Subway (11.9 billion)
Subway is now the second largest fast food chain in the world by number of locations with more than 43,000 locations in 112 countries. Founded in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1965, today it serves sandwiches, salads and more. The company had total revenues of $11.9 billion in fiscal 2015.
4) KFC (10th07 billion)
KFC, or Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a fast food chain specializing in fried chicken. It was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1930 and today has more than 19,000 locations in 115 countries around the world. In 2015, the company had total revenues of $10.07 billion.
5) Burger King (9th04 billion)
Burger King is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants founded in 1954 in Miami, Florida. It is the second largest hamburger fast food chain in the world with over 15,000 locations in 99 countries. The company had total sales of $9.04 billion in 2015.