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2016 Top 500: Burger chains

By Restaurant Business Staff on Jun. 21, 2016
McDonald's burgers

Burger chains among the Top 500 together earned $75.5 billion in sales, and about 45% of those sales are McDonald’s. The category’s sales are up 3.3%, and unit count increased by 0.5%. The top three far outweigh the other chains, but there are plenty of brands worth watching, both fast-casual players and QSRs.

2016 Rank

Chain Name

2015 U.S. Sales ($000)

2015 U.S. Units

1McDonald's35,837,20014,259
5Burger King9,000,000*7,086
6Wendy's8,777,400*5,722
14SONIC Drive-In4,413,6613,529
22Jack in the Box3,338,150*2,252
31Hardee's2,164,8071,805
34Whataburger2,001,306791
40Carl's Jr.1,496,4891,153
42Five Guys Burgers and Fries1,319,4911,215
43Culver's1,196,038559
46Steak n Shake1,035,637*557
70In-N-Out Burger614,500*313
76White Castle547,787*390
85Checkers Drive-In Restaurants508,632*531
91Krystal Company421,203354
119Smashburger306,517328
131Rally's Hamburgers267,465*299
132Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers267,077177
137Fuddruckers253,00*173
139Habit Burger Grill, The251,366*142
174Shake Shack199,37749
190A&W All-American Food180,100*638
231Jack's132,500*132
243Farmer Boys122,800*78

*Technomic estimate

 

View the full Top 500 report

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