Jonathan Maze

None of these chains grew sales more than 2% last year outside of Whataburger (9%), In-N-Out (11.5%) and Culver's (15.5%).

The 10 largest U.S. burger chains and 2024 system sales, per Technomic.

1. McDonald's: $53.4B
2. Wendy's: $12.6B
3. Burger King: $11B
4. Sonic: $5.4B
5. Jack in the Box: $4.4B
6. Whataburger: $4.1B
7. Culver's: $3.8B
8. In-N-Out: $2.4B
9. Five Guys: $2.3B
10. Hardee's: $1.8B

Restaurant Brands International feeling the effects of 1Q.

Burger King US same-store sales: -1.1%.
Tim Hortons global: 0.1%.
Popeyes US: -4%
Firehouse global: 0.6%.

Burger King outperforms McDonald’s and Wendy’s but that ain’t saying much.

DoorDash to acquire Deliveroo and reservations firm SevenRooms The two deals will expand the delivery company’s footprint around the world and into restaurants’ on-premise business.

Meanwhile, DoorDash keeps making deals. The third-party delivery aggregator is buying not one but two companies today: Deliveroo and the reservations platform SevenRooms. www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/technology/d...

Wendy's updated its outlook, saying it now expects global systemwide sales to be down 2% to flat. Company basing that change on pullback in consumer demand. "Our updated outlook assumes the current consumer environment persists."

Wendy's talks about a "weaker than expected consumer environment" in March, which is pretty much the same thing just about every industry chief executive has said this earnings season.

Restaurants added 16,600 jobs in April. Still employ 12.3 million. Economy added 177k jobs, unemployment at 4.2%.

McDonald's earnings call summary:

Consumer sentiment is bad;
Low-income consumers fleeing restaurants;
So are middle-income consumers;
People cutting out breakfast;
But Minecraft!
And chicken, then Snack Wraps;
Beverages will be big;
US should rethink some value offers;

$MCD

McDonald’s same-store sales fell 3.6% in the U.S. amid continued economic uncertainty.

Restaurant chains that have reported negative same-store sales this earnings season:

Starbucks
Chipotle(!)
KFC
Pizza Hut
Habit
Domino's

Chains with positive comps:
Chili's
Taco Bell

Chili's and Taco Bell are doing REALLY well. So you're either down or killing it.

Starbucks earnings call summary:

Traffic stabilizing from non-loyal customers;
Labor improvements work;
New equipment not a panacea;
Company redesigning prototype to lower costs;
Fewer discount transactions good;
Working on tariffs;
China improving;
EPS not a great indicator of comeback results.

Here is your Starbucks earnings call BINGO card for those of you partaking in this event.

An average Subway generates just $490k/year/store, which just isn't that much. Firehouse and Jimmy John's do twice that. Jersey Mike's does $1.3M.

Of course it's closing locations.

Subway closed more restaurants last year The sandwich giant closed more than 600 U.S. locations in 2024, according to the company’s franchise disclosure documents. It has fewer

Let's talk Subway ..

Subway closed another 600+ locations last year. It now operates 19,500 restaurants in the U.S.

It has closed 7,600 restaurants since 2015, which is the same number that Taco Bell operates in the U.S.

restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/su...

Only restaurant chain in America that appears to be doing well right now is Chili's.

Starbucks is still losing customers more than one year after its problems began. U.S. same-store sales down 2% with a 4% decline in transactions.

Domino's saying that its Parmesan Stuffed Crust pizza was "arguably" the best new product introduction in its history, but it was introduced too late in the quarter to have a "meaningful" impact on Q1 sales.

If you ever think your job is useless, remember there is a person who asks analysts to keep to just one question only during earnings calls.

No other chain is that dominant in its competitive set, except for the perpetually underappreciated Panda Express. Everybody else has at least some chain taking share and making life annoying.

Customers either go to Taco Bell, or they get their Mexican chain fare from fast-casual brands.

So I wrote about the fast-food Mexican sector in light of the potential sale of Del Taco.

Basically, people go to Taco Bell when they want cheap Mexican food, and nowhere else. It's 16x as big as the nearest competitor.

www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/fa...

Bertucci's files for bankruptcy for the third time The Italian casual-dining chain has been shrinking for years. It previously restructured in 2018 and 2022.

We have a Chapter 33 ...

Bertucci's, which filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and again in 2022, has declared Chapter 11 a third time in 2025.

www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/be...

Jack in the Box wants to sell Del Taco just three years after buying the chain. The company wants to focus on its core brand again.

This week's podcast features Sbarro CEO David Karam, talking about how the chain has adapted to life outside of the mall. Fascinating stuff providing all kinds of lessons for operators.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Quite a few someones outpizza the hut.

The 10 largest U.S. pizza chains by system sales, per @technomic.

Domino's: $9.5B
Pizza Hut: $5.6B
Little Caesars: $4.4B
Papa Johns: $3.7B
Marco's Pizza: $1.1B
Papa Murphy's: $728M
MOD Pizza: $583M
Jet's Pizza: $550M
Hungry Howie's: $436M
Round Table Pizza: $416M

The Minecraft Movie promotion has apparently been good for McDonald's Traffic at the fast-food chain has taken off since the company introduced a Minecraft Movie Happy Meal and one for adults, according to the

Apparently, the Minecraft Movie isn't just getting people into theaters. It's getting customers into McDonald's.

True story: My team dared me to use the word “waterfalls” during my session today. The second one was just me trying to get them to laugh on stage.

McDonald's highest-volume restaurant generates more revenue than Chick-fil-A's highest-volume restaurant ($19.7m v. $19.3m).

But McDonald's lowest-volume restaurant generates a lot less revenue than Chick-fil-A's.

Total AUVs:

McDonald's: $4m
Chick-fil-A: $7.5m

The 10 largest restaurant chains in the U.S., per Technomic:

McDonald's: $54.5B sales 2024
Starbucks: $31.5B
Chick-fil-A: $22.7B
Taco Bell: $16.2B
Wendy's: $12.6B
Dunkin': $12.5B
Chipotle: $11.3B
Burger King: $11B
Subway: $9.5B
Domino's: $9.5B

Chipotle Mexican Grill is now the 7th largest restaurant chain in the U.S. and is bigger than both Burger King and Subway.