Top 500 2026

Financing

Chicken chains’ sales growth slows for the second straight year

Sales at chicken chains on the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report grew by 5.3%, mostly because companies keep adding more locations.

Operations

The number of independent restaurants declined by 2.3% in 2025

That drop reflected a net loss of about 9,500 restaurant locations due to an increasingly challenging operating environment. Chain restaurants, however, fared a bit better.

The Bottom Line: In this edition of the weekly restaurant finance newsletter, we discuss slowing Technomic Top 500 sales and why that will be the norm going forward.

The Week in Restaurants: This week’s episode of the weekly news discussion podcast The Week in Restaurants looks at the sandwich chain’s plan to go public, the Technomic Top 500 and RLC.

Sales among the largest fast-casual chains grew 6% last year, a notable deceleration. But standout brands defying the slowdown included Shake Shack, Jersey Mike's, Wingstop and Cava.