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 |
| 1 | McDonald's | 35,837,200 | 14,259 |
| 5 | Burger King | 9,000,000* | 7,086 |
| 6 | Wendy's | 8,777,400* | 5,722 |
| 14 | SONIC Drive-In | 4,413,661 | 3,529 |
| 22 | Jack in the Box | 3,338,150* | 2,252 |
| 31 | Hardee's | 2,164,807 | 1,805 |
| 34 | Whataburger | 2,001,306 | 791 |
| 40 | Carl's Jr. | 1,496,489 | 1,153 |
| 42 | Five Guys Burgers and Fries | 1,319,491 | 1,215 |
| 43 | Culver's | 1,196,038 | 559 |
| 46 | Steak n Shake | 1,035,637* | 557 |
| 70 | In-N-Out Burger | 614,500* | 313 |
| 76 | White Castle | 547,787* | 390 |
| 85 | Checkers Drive-In Restaurants | 508,632* | 531 |
| 91 | Krystal Company | 421,203 | 354 |
| 119 | Smashburger | 306,517 | 328 |
| 131 | Rally's Hamburgers | 267,465* | 299 |
| 132 | Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers | 267,077 | 177 |
| 137 | Fuddruckers | 253,00* | 173 |
| 139 | Habit Burger Grill, The | 251,366* | 142 |
| 174 | Shake Shack | 199,377 | 49 |
| 190 | A&W All-American Food | 180,100* | 638 |
| 231 | Jack's | 132,500* | 132 |
| 243 | Farmer Boys | 122,800* | 78 |
*Technomic estimate
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