Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen

Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen

Boasting Italian-inspired fare made with never-frozen dough, housemade sauces and fresh produce

The top and fastest-growing chains don’t always align with average total menu items in their sectors.

It serves Italian fare made with housemade sauces, fresh produce and never-frozen dough

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.

DIY pizza is again a growth story, but still a relatively small piece of the pie (only Blaze Pizza has hit the top 200).

Has the pumpkin spice craze gone too far? Check out these examples before you answer.

One sign of a healthy menu category is that both the large players and the emerging chains have healthy growth rates. Pizza chains from the 2016 Top 500 ranking are a good example.