2. Alshaya (Middle East, North Africa, Europe)
U.S. brands it operates: Blaze Pizza, Bouchon Bakery, The Cheesecake Factory, Dean & Deluca, IHOP, Pei Wei, P.F. Chang’s, Pinkberry, Raising Cane’s, Shake Shack, Starbucks, Teavana, Texas Roadhouse
One of the world’s largest franchisees, the Kuwait-based company operates 90 retail brands in total, including 26 restaurant concepts, with more on the way. Roughly half of the foodservice outlets hail from the United States, and they range from fine dining (Bouchon Bakery, one of chef Thomas Keller’s brands) to quick service (Pinkberry, Raising Cane’s). The company is known as a top operator with more than 30 years of experience in matching concepts to sites, in markets ranging from Europe through Turkey.