McDonald’s took $55.1 billion at its US restaurants in 2025, almost as much as Starbucks and Chick-fil-A combined. These are the 25 biggest quick-service and fast-casual chains in America, ranked by what customers spent at all of each brand’s US locations last year, franchised or company-run, from Technomic’s 2026 Top 500 report. The sales-per-location column shows who does the most with the least: Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane’s and Culver’s.
Pictured: Good Morning America on McDonald’s value menu. McDonald’s is #1, with $55.1 billion in 2025 US sales.
| Rank | Chain | 2025 US sales ($ billions) | US locations | Sales per location ($ millions) | Menu category | Parent company |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McDonald’s | 55.1 | 13,706 | 4.0 | Burger | McDonald’s Corporation |
| 2 | Starbucks | 32.1* | 16,864 | 1.9 | Coffee café | Starbucks Corporation |
| 3 | Chick-fil-A | 23.9 | 3,287 | 7.3 | Chicken | Chick-fil-A, Inc. (private) |
| 4 | Taco Bell | 17.2 | 7,784 | 2.2 | Mexican | Yum! Brands |
| 5 | Dunkin’ | 13.1 | 9,999 | 1.3 | Coffee café | Inspire Brands (private) |
| 6 | Wendy’s | 11.9 | 5,969 | 2.0 | Burger | The Wendy’s Company |
| 7 | Chipotle Mexican Grill | 11.9 | 3,938 | 3.0 | Mexican | Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. |
| 8 | Burger King | 11.1 | 6,649 | 1.7 | Burger | Restaurant Brands International |
| 9 | Domino’s | 10.0 | 7,186 | 1.4 | Pizza | Domino’s Pizza, Inc. |
| 10 | Subway | 9.0* | 18,773 | 0.5 | Sandwich | Roark Capital (private) |
| 11 | Panda Express | 6.7 | 2,609 | 2.6 | Asian | Panda Restaurant Group (private) |
| 12 | Panera Bread | 5.9 | 2,238 | 2.6 | Sandwich | Panera Brands (private) |
| 13 | Popeyes | 5.7 | 3,196 | 1.8 | Chicken | Restaurant Brands International |
| 14 | Raising Cane’s | 5.5 | 913 | 6.0 | Chicken | Raising Cane’s (private) |
| 15 | Sonic Drive-In | 5.2 | 3,412 | 1.5 | Burger | Inspire Brands (private) |
| 16 | Pizza Hut | 5.1 | 6,307 | 0.8 | Pizza | Yum! Brands |
| 17 | Dairy Queen | 5.0 | 4,115 | 1.2 | Frozen desserts | Berkshire Hathaway |
| 18 | Wingstop | 4.9 | 2,586 | 1.9 | Chicken | Wingstop Inc. |
| 19 | KFC | 4.7 | 3,523 | 1.3 | Chicken | Yum! Brands |
| 20 | Little Caesars | 4.5* | 4,374 | 1.0 | Pizza | Ilitch Holdings (private) |
| 21 | Culver’s | 4.4 | 1,043 | 4.2 | Burger | Culver’s (private) |
| 22 | Whataburger | 4.3 | 1,161 | 3.7 | Burger | Whataburger (private) |
| 23 | Arby’s | 4.2 | 3,265 | 1.3 | Sandwich | Inspire Brands (private) |
| 24 | Jack in the Box | 4.2 | 2,136 | 2.0 | Burger | Jack in the Box Inc. |
| 25 | Jersey Mike’s Subs | 4.2* | 3,227 | 1.3 | Sandwich | Blackstone (private) |
No matching rows.
What counts. Limited-service chains, quick-service and fast-casual, where you order at a counter, drive-through or app. Sit-down chains are left out even when they out-sell some of these (Texas Roadhouse, Chili’s and Olive Garden would all make this list); they have their own ranking, The Largest Casual-Dining Chains in the US. The figures. US systemwide sales for 2025 and US locations at the end of the year, from Technomic’s 2026 Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report; an asterisk marks a Technomic estimate.[1] “Sales per location” is RList’s own division of the two, a rough guide rather than Technomic’s average unit volume: chains that opened many restaurants late in the year look a little lower, and Starbucks’s figure includes thousands of small licensed cafés inside stores and airports. QSR magazine’s QSR 50 ranks the same chains in nearly the same order with slightly different figures.[4] For the world ranking, see The Largest Fast-Food Chains in the World by Sales.
McDonald’s US restaurants took $55.1 billion in 2025, about $4.0 million each across 13,706 locations.[1] That’s roughly 40% of its $139.4 billion worldwide.[11] Growth at home was only modest, as it was at Burger King and Domino’s, in a year when cost-conscious customers cut back.[3] McDonald’s answer was value: the video is Good Morning America’s report on it extending its value menu.
Technomic estimates Starbucks’s 2025 US sales at $32.1 billion, across 16,864 locations: its own cafés plus thousands of licensed ones in grocery stores, Target stores and airports.[1] That makes the average location much smaller than a McDonald’s. Coffee was one of the fastest-growing parts of the industry in 2025, up 6.1% across the Top 500.[3]
No other chain comes close to Chick-fil-A’s sales per restaurant: $23.9 billion from 3,287 US locations is about $7.3 million each, nearly twice McDonald’s.[1] Its franchise disclosure document shows sales up 5.2% in 2025, with a typical freestanding restaurant taking just under $9.2 million, and 178 net new locations.[5] All of them close on Sundays. Founder Truett Cathy is credited with creating the fast-food chicken sandwich.[12]
America’s biggest Mexican chain sold $17.2 billion at 7,784 US restaurants.[1] Unlike KFC and Pizza Hut, its Yum! Brands stablemates, Taco Bell is still overwhelmingly an American business: its US sales are almost 94% of its $18.4 billion worldwide.[1][10] Glen Bell opened the first one in Downey, California, in 1962.[12]
Dunkin’ is Starbucks’s nearest rival at home, with $13.1 billion in sales at 9,999 US locations.[1] It dropped “Donuts” from its name in 2019 to sell itself as a coffee chain first, which the Wall Street Journal explains in the video.[12] Its owner, the private Inspire Brands, also has Sonic and Arby’s on this list.[1]
Wendy’s was one of the few big chains whose sales fell in 2025, along with Pizza Hut and Papa John’s.[3] Its global system sales dropped to $13.96 billion from $14.49 billion even as international sales grew 8.1% to $2.06 billion, leaving about $11.9 billion in the US across 5,969 restaurants.[1][6] Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969.[6][12]
Chipotle is the biggest fast-casual chain, and it runs every one of its 3,938 US restaurants itself rather than franchising.[1][7] That works out to about $3.0 million per restaurant.[1] 2025 was a harder year: its comparable restaurant sales fell 1.7%, though new openings still pushed total revenue up 5.4%.[7] The first Chipotle opened in Denver in 1993.[7]
Burger King sold $11.1 billion at 6,649 US restaurants, about $1.7 million each, well under half of McDonald’s per restaurant.[1] Its owner, Restaurant Brands International, reported Burger King sales in the US and Canada up just 0.9% in 2025.[8] Most of the brand’s sales are now outside the US: about $29.4 billion worldwide.[11]
Domino’s sold just under $10 billion from 7,186 US stores in 2025, almost twice Pizza Hut’s US sales.[1] Its US same-store sales rose 3.0% for the year,[9] while Pizza Hut’s US sales fell 8.2%, the worst drop among America’s 50 biggest chains.[2]
Subway still has more US locations than any other restaurant chain, 18,773, but sells the least per shop on this list: Technomic’s estimate of $9.0 billion works out to under $500,000 each.[1] It is shrinking: Subway closed a net 729 US restaurants in 2025.[13] The video tells how a $1,000 loan started the chain in 1965.[12]