Which full-service restaurant chain opened the most restaurants last year? The answer might surprise you, in more ways than one.
It was not an upstart growth chain, or an established juggernaut like Texas Roadhouse.
It was Buffalo Wild Wings, the quiet leader of the U.S. sports bar segment.
The Atlanta-based chicken wing chain added 59 net new locations last year, for a total of 1,323 domestic restaurants, according to Technomic Top 500 data. Systemwide sales increased by 2.4%, to just over $4 billion.
But those numbers come with a large asterisk. That’s because B-Dubs’ new openings came entirely from the chain’s quick-service offshoot, Buffalo Wild Wings Go.
Sixty-one Go units opened last year, per Technomic data, meaning Buffalo Wild Wings actually closed a couple of full-service locations. It finished 2024 with 140 Go outlets, an increase of 77% year over year.
That made Buffalo Wild Wings Go the second-fastest growing quick-service chain in the U.S. last year by unit count, just behind 321-unit 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee, which grew by 78%, according to Technomic.
Launched in 2020, Buffalo Wild Wings Go offers chicken wings and tenders with a full complement of 26 sauces, as well as burgers, wraps, fried sides and desserts. Most of its sales are digital, though customers can order in person at the counter, and there is limited seating.
At about 1,500 square feet, Go locations are much smaller than Buffalo Wild Wings’ sprawling sports bars, giving the brand more flexible real estate options.
Buffalo Wild Wings has big plans for the concept. As of last year, franchisees had committed to opening nearly 600 more Go units. About two-thirds of Go locations are operated by franchisees. Many of them are existing operators within Buffalo Wild Wings’ parent company, Inspire Brands, which also owns Arby’s, Jimmy John’s, Sonic Drive-In and other brands.
BWW Go is one of the rare full-service spinoffs to achieve any real growth. Other recent efforts, such as Hooters’ Hoots, Aussie Grill by Outback and Flip’d by IHOP, have stagnated or failed.
But it reflects consumers’ growing taste for takeout chicken wings, which has propelled Wingstop to massive success in recent years.
The full-service chain with the most actual full-service restaurant openings last year was First Watch, with 48. The breakfast-and-lunch chain has expanded aggressively since going public in 2021, averaging about 10% unit growth each year since. It finished 2024 with 572 locations, and expects to open 59 to 64 restaurants in 2025.
Next was the red-hot KPOT Korean BBQ, with 40 unit openings in 2024. That was an increase of 73%, bringing it to a total of 95 locations. At KPOT, customers cook their own protein using either a tabletop grill or a cauldron of bubbling broth. It has been among the fastest-growing chains in the country in recent years, racking up total sales growth of 1,973% since 2021.
Then came Texas Roadhouse, which opened 26 restaurants last year. That helped make the steakhouse chain the country’s largest full-service restaurant brand by sales, moving past Olive Garden. It had a total of 638 locations last year and is opening new units at an impressive clip for a chain of its size.
And just behind Roadhouse was Waffle House, which opened 25 locations last year, an increase of 1.3%. It was the chain’s best year for unit growth since 2018, when its footprint increased by 1.4%. With 2,010 total restaurants, the Southern breakfast brand is the largest U.S. full-service chain by unit count.
Unit growth was difficult to come by in the full-service segment last year. The total number of full-service restaurants in the U.S. declined for the second straight year, according to Technomic. Some large brands, including TGI Fridays, Red Lobster and Hooters, combined to close hundreds of locations amid bankruptcy filings.
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