Here are the 10 top fast-food restaurant brands in the United States:
1. Subway
U.S. locations: 26,288
Source: Subway website locations page
“Subway operates a total of 44,621 restaurants in 113 countries.”
2. McDonald’s
U.S. locations: 14,155
Source: Associated Press (January 1, 2017)
Per the latest 10-Q (filed May 8, 2017): "Of the 36,905 restaurants in 120 countries at March 31, 2017, 31,328 were licensed to franchisees (comprised of 21,168 franchised to conventional franchisees, 6,800 licensed to developmental licensees and 3,360 licensed to foreign affiliates (“affiliates”) – primarily in Japan) and 5,577 were operated by the Company."
3. Dunkin Donuts
U.S. locations: 8,500+
Source: Dunkin Donuts website
Per the latest 10-Q (filed May 10, 2017): “Dunkin’ Donuts U.S. systemwide sales growth of 4.9% for the three months ended April 1, 2017 as a result of 384 net new restaurants opened since March 26, 2016.”
4. Starbucks
U.S. locations: 7,880
Source: Form 10-K (Oct 2, 2016)
Per the latest 10-Q (filed May 2, 2017): "The Americas segment continued to perform well in the second quarter, growing revenues by 8% to $3.7 billion, primarily driven by incremental revenues from 952 net new store openings over the past 12 months and comparable store sales growth of 3%."
5. Pizza Hut
U.S. locations: 7,733
Source: 10-Q (March 31, 2017)
“The Pizza Hut Division has 16,454 units, 47% of which are located in the U.S.”
6. Burger King
U.S. locations: 7,490
Source: 10-Q (March 31, 2017)
“As of March 31, 2017, we franchised or owned 4,644 Tim Hortons restaurants, 15,768 Burger King restaurants, and 2,743 Popeyes restaurants, for a total of 23,155 restaurants, and operate in more than 100 countries and U.S. territories.”
Per the annual 10-K: “As of December 31, 2016, Burger King reported it had 15,738 outlets in 100 countries. Of these, 47.5% are in the United States and 99.5% are privately owned and operated, with its new owners moving to an almost entirely franchised model in 2013.”
7. Wendy’s
U.S. locations: 6,551
Source: 10-Q (April 2, 2017)
“As of April 2, 2017, the Wendy’s restaurant system was comprised of 6,551 restaurants, of which 331 were owned and operated by the Company. All of our Company-operated restaurants are located in the U.S.”
8. Taco Bell
U.S. locations: 6,278
Source: Statista (Dec 31, 2016)
"Per the annual 10-K: As of year end 2016, there were 6,604 Taco Bell units, primarily in the U.S. 87 percent of the Taco Bell units are franchised."
9. Domino’s Pizza
U.S. locations: 5,399
Source: Domino’s Pizza website
10. Dairy Queen
U.S. Locations: 4,515
Source: Entrepreneur (March 17, 2017)
And almost making the Top 10 list ...
KFC
U.S. locations: 4,143
Source: 10-Q (March 31, 2017)“The KFC Division has 20,716 units, 80% of which are located outside the U.S.”
Research Methods
All current publicly available data was relied upon. Most of the location data came from recent SEC filings or the official company website.
