McDonald’s once again was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. in 2017, according to Technomic’s Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. Despite shrinking its unit count in the past couple of years, including a 0.8% decline last year, it maintained its overall dominance. With its combination of high average unit volume, which at $2.5 million is still among the highest in limited service, and more than 14,000 locations, McDonald’s is by far the most popular U.S. restaurant chain. Read on to see how.
Starbucks is still less than half of McDonald’s size, even after growing by more than $1.5 billion last year. That 12-year figure is assuming McDonald's saw no growth at all.
The next 10 chains are Burger King, Wendy’s, Sonic Drive-In, Jack in the Box, Hardee’s, Whataburger, Carl’s Jr., Five Guys, Culver’s and Steak ’n Shake.
The fast-food chain has taken 64,000 calls and texts from customers about a variety of issues. The calls are providing crucial information on product innovation, operational improvements and even some broken signs.
A Deeper Dive: Scott Drake, CEO of the eatertainment chain’s parent company CEC Entertainment, joins the restaurant finance podcast to talk about growth and evolution.
