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.
Marketing Bites: The pizza chain raises questions about what truly defines an iconic menu item and whether encouraging visits to competitors is brilliant or risky.
The Bottom Line: Burger King has established a playbook companies can use to turn around long-struggling chains. But that requires two things many brands don’t have: Money and patience.
Also in this week’s government roundup: Chain restaurants in California are now required to offer healthy kids meals, the FDA considers new natural food colors, and more.
