QSR Magazine - The QSR 50 - August 2002 - 4

AMERICA’S HOTTEST CHAINS | THE QSR 50 Pushing Upward Despite economic uncertainty, chains continue to increase their systemwide sales. T 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T H E O P 5 0 CHAIN (2001 RANK) McDonald’s (1) Burger King (2) Wendy’s (3) Taco Bell (4) Pizza Hut (5) KFC (6) Subway (7) Domino’s Pizza (8) Arby’s (9) 10 Dairy Queen (12) 11 Jack in the Box (11) 12 Sonic Drive-In (13) 13 Hardee’s (10) 14 Papa John’s Pizza (14) 15 Little Caesars Pizza (15) 16 Chick-fil-A (16) 17 Popeyes (17) 18 Carl’s Jr. (18) 19 Long John Silver’s (20) 20 Church’s Chicken (21) 21 Boston Market (19) 22 Chuck E. Cheese’s (23) 23 Whataburger (22) 24 Checkers Drive-In/Rally’s (24) 25 White Castle (28) I 42 26 Steak ’n Shake (26) 27 Panera Bread/St. Louis Bread Co. (35) 28 Captain D’s Seafood (25) 29 Sbarro (27) 30 Schlotzsky’s Deli (29) 31 Fazoli’s (30) 32 Krystal (32) 33 Round Table Pizza (N/A) 34 Einstein/Noah’s Bagels (31) 35 Del Taco (34) 36 El Pollo Loco (38) 37 CiCi’s Pizza (39) 38 Bojangle’s (40) 39 Panda Express (41) 40 Papa Murphy’s Take ’N Bake Pizza (42) 41 Blimpie Subs (36) 42 Godfather’s Pizza (33) 43 In-N-Out Burger (N/A) 44 A&W Restaurants (37) 45 Buffalo Wild Wings (N/A) 46 Mrs. Winner’s/Lee’s Famous (43) 47 Au Bon Pain (44) 48 Wienerschnitzel & Hamburger Stand (N/A) 49 Taco John’s (45) 50 Chipotle (N/A) N AN ERA OF UNCERTAINTY, AT LEAST ONE THING IS still certain: People eat. And in good news for the restaurant industry, they continue to eat away from home. After the initial shock of September 11 wore off, Americans on the whole didn’t find their lifestyles changed in any drastic way. Workers still typically have less than an hour to grab lunch and get back on the job, and parents still have to juggle busy schedules, get their kids to soccer practice, and somehow squeeze in dinner. As always, the quick-service industry benefits from this. And so the chains that made The QSR 50, based on systemwide sales, enjoyed a reasonably good 2001 overall. The accompanying chart ranks the chains by 2001 systemwide sales but also gives figures for increase in sales from 2000, as well as a breakdown of total number of units and how those units are distributed between franchised and company-operated. The number in parentheses next to each chain name indicates its position in the top 50 last year, but note that those rankings reflect actual sales from 2000, which occasionally differ from the estimated numbers used in QSR’s published report last year—and so the number given here for a chain’s 2001 ranking might differ from the ranking published last year. All that said, the news at the top of the systemwide sales figures for the quick-serve and quick-casual industries is no news at all— McDonald’s wins. And with systemwide sales about 2.5 times that of its closest competitor, new-product maven Burger King, that’s not going to change any time soon. Of course, not all is rosy at the burger giant; while the average annual increase in systemwide sales among the top 50 chains clocked in at just under 6 percent, McDonald’s experienced an increase of just 2.4 percent, its lowest figure in the five years of data QSR examined. Given that, the message from McDonald’s is one of diversifying. The chain is now AUGUST 2002 QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com
QSR Magazine - The QSR 50 - August 2002

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