Baja Fresh Mexican Grill

The upscale restaurant market has its celebrity chefs, but the limited-service sector is giving rise to a group of marquee-name investors whose very interest tends to anoint their holdings as likely successes.

More than half of the restaurant industry’s $491 billion in sales come from the Top 500 chains. And these giants grew at a modestly stronger rate, both in terms of sales and store counts, than the industry overall. Restaurant Business focused on the leading 250 performers to identify trends for our first-ever special report delivering lessons from Technomic’s annual Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. This special package includes lessons for all operators from the largest chains by segment, menu category and more.

A Mexican chain offering made-to-order Mexican fare