Ranked: The Most Popular Fast Food Brands in America

Ranked: The Most Popular Fast Food Brands in America

Ever since the McDonald brothers created the concept of fast food in 1940, the restaurant’s golden arches have continued to beckon customers to its quick, cheap, and tasty meals.

McDonald’s is still the most popular fast food brand in America today—with $46 billion in systemwide sales last year.

This graphic uses data from a report on America’s top 50 fast food chains by Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Magazine. The popular brands are sized by their 2021 systemwide sales and broken down into six broad categories: Burger, Chicken, Snack, Pizza, Sandwich, and Global.

Note: a number of these figures are estimates. Unofficial figures are noted in the graphic with an asterisk.

The Most Popular Fast Food Companies

It’s indisputable that McDonald’s is America’s favorite fast food restaurant, if not the world’s. McDonald’s sales are almost double the second the place restaurant’s, Starbucks—totaling $46 billion compared to the coffee shop’s $24 billion.

Here’s a closer look at the numbers:

Rank	Company	Systemwide Sales (2021)	Category
#1	McDonald's	$46.0 billion	Burger
#2	Starbucks	$24.3 billion	Snack
#3	Chick-fil-A	$16.7 billion	Chicken
#4	Taco Bell	$12.6 billion	Global
#5	Wendy's	$11.1 billion	Burger
#6	Dunkin'	$10.4 billion	Snack
#7	Burger King	$10.0 billion	Burger
#8	Subway	$9.4 billion	Sandwich
#9	Domino's	$8.6 billion	Pizza
#10	Chipotle	$7.5 billion	Global
#11	Sonic Drive-In	$5.8 billion	Burger
#12	Panera Bread	$5.7 billion	Sandwich
#13	Pizza Hut	$5.5 billion	Pizza
#14	KFC	$5.1 billion	Chicken
#15	Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen	$4.8 billion	Chicken
#16	Dairy Queen	$4.5 billion	Snack
#17	Arby's	$4.5 billion	Sandwich
#18	Panda Express	$4.5 billion	Global
#19	Little Caesars	$4.2 billion	Pizza
#20	Jack in the Box	$4.1 billion	Burger
#21	Papa Johns	$3.5 billion	Pizza
#22	Whataburger	$2.7 billion	Burger
#23	Culver's	$2.5 billion	Burger
#24	Raising Caine's	$2.4 billion	Chicken
#25	Jimmy John's	$2.3 billion	Sandwich
#26	Wingstop	$2.3 billion	Chicken
#27	Zaxby's	$2.2 billion	Chicken
#28	Jersey Mike's	$2.2 billion	Sandwich
#29	Hardee's	$2.1 billion	Burger
#30	Five Guys	$2.1 billion	Burger
#31	Carl's Jr.	$1.6 billion	Burger
#32	Bojangles	$1.5 billion	Chicken
#33	In-N-Out Burger	$1.2 billion	Burger
#34	Firehouse Subs	$1.0 billion	Sandwich
#35	Krispy Kreme	$996 million	Snack
#36	Pel Pollo Loco	$973 million	Chicken
#37	Tropical Smoothie Cafe	$948 million	Snack
#38	Del Taco	$931 million	Global
#39	Checkers/Rally's	$931 million	Burger
#40	Marco's Pizza	$899 million	Pizza
#41	McAlister's Deli	$869 million	Sandwich
#42	Qdoba	$835 million	Global
#43	Papa Murphy's	$809 million	Pizza
#44	Church's Chicken	$776 million	Chicken
#45	Shake Shack	$775 million	Burger
#46	Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburger	$759 million	Burger
#47	Tim Hortons	$687 million	Snack
#48	Baskin-Robbins	$686 million	Snack
#49	Moe's	$661 million	Global
#50	White Castle	$615 million	Burger

Most of the top 20 restaurants are extremely well known, like Chick-fil-A in third place and Taco Bell in fourth. Some of these chains, however, will be unrecognizable depending on which part of the U.S. you live in. While Bojangles is ubiquitous in the Southeast, for example, many on the West Coast may have never heard of it.

Some of the lower ranking restaurants include Shake Shack (#45), White Castle (#50), and the Canadian-founded Tim Hortons (#47).

Fast Food Industry Trends

America’s fast food industry is expected to generate $331 billion in sales in 2022, and many restaurants are capitalizing on trends shaped in part by the pandemic.

Fast food companies are already somewhat ideal for pandemic conditions with drive-thrus, fast service, and a model that doesn’t encourage sitting down to eat.

Looking to the future, Starbucks, for example, has claimed 90% of its new stores will feature drive-thrus. Digital sales and transactions that limit contact, making fast food even more quick and convenient, are growing as well. Starbucks’ mobile order service has grown 400% over the last five years. And in 2021, the delivery side of their business grew 30% year-over-year, according to the QSR report.

Additionally, the report featured 50 up-and-coming fast food companies to watch in the industry. Here’s a look:

Rank	Company	Systemwide Sales (2021)	Category
#1	Smoothie King	$602 million	Snack
#2	Habit Burger	$600 million	Burger
#3	Auntie Anne's	$576 million	Snack
#4	Captain D's	$567 million	Seafood
#5	Steak 'N' Shake	$539 million	Burger
#6	Portillo's	$526 million	Snack
#7	Jamba	$505 million	Snack
#8	Schlotzsky's	$332 million	Sandwich
#9	Krystal	$323 million	Burger
#10	Fazoli's	$298 million	Global
#11	Pizza Ranch	$279 million	Pizza
#12	Scooter's Coffee	$263 million	Snack
#13	Penn Station	$258 million	Sandwich
#14	Chicken Salad Chick	$255 million	Chicken
#15	Mountain Mike's	$254 million	Pizza
#16	Smashburger	$253 million	Burger
#17	Cinnabon	$224 million	Snack
#18	Wetzel's	$219 million	Snack
#19	Donatos	$211 million	Pizza
#20	Newk's	$208 million	Sandwich
#21	Bonchon	$173 million	Chicken
#22	Waba Grill	$170 million	Global
#23	The Human Bean	$109 million	Snack
#24	Capriotti's	$108 million	Sandwich
#25	Great Harvest Bread Company	$108 million	Sandwich
#26	Teriyaki Madness	$90 million	Global
#27	Roy Rogers	$82 million	Burger
#28	Pizza Guys	$79 million	Pizza
#29	Mooyah	$71 million	Burger
#30	Salsarita's	$68 million	Global
#31	Dog Haus	$67 million	Snack
#32	Gold Star	$61 million	Burger
#33	Hawaiian Bros	$55 million	Global
#34	Honeygrow	$55 million	Global
#35	Robeks	$50 million	Snack
#36	PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans	$46 million	Snack
#37	Kolache Factory	$46 million	Snack
#38	Juice it Up!	$43 million	Snack
#39	Happy Joe's	$38 million	Pizza
#40	Rusty Taco	$35 million	Global
#41	Wing Zone	$34 million	Chicken
#42	Swig	$29 million	Snack
#43	Pickleman's	$29 million	Sandwich
#44	Killer Burger	$17 million	Burger
#45	Wing Snob	$15 million	Chicken
#46	Sobol	$13 million	Global
#47	Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii	$12 million	Snack
#48	Asian Box	$11 million	Global
#49	Sauce on the Side	$9 million	Global
#50	Mici Italian	$6 million	Global

Some of these are well-established fast food joints that are simply growing their sales, like Cinnabon, while others are newer to the scene.

America’s Favorite Fast Food

Using the ranking’s food categories, we calculated the total sales in each category from the top 50 to figure out which foods are America’s favorites. The winner is evidently burgers, with $92.2 billion in collective sales. Here’s a look at the breakdown:

Rank	Food Category	Category Cumulative Sales
#1	Burger	$92.2 billion
#2	Snack	$42.5 billion
#3	Chicken	$36.7 billion
#4	Global	$27.0 billion
#5	Sandwich	$25.9 billion
#6	Pizza	$23.5 billion

Sales at Burger restaurants were more than double the runner-up, which was Snacks. After all, nothing is more American than a classic hamburger and fries.