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Ranked: The Most Popular Fast Food Brands in America

Published

1 year ago

August 31, 2022

Avery Koop

fast food brands ranked by systemwide sales in 2021

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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.

Related Topics:fast food companies fast food starbucks mcdonalds fast food chains restaurants

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Ranked: The World’s Top Diamond Mining Countries, by Carats and Value

Who are the leaders in rough diamond production and how much is their diamond output worth?

Creator Program

Published

17 hours ago

September 29, 2023

Pallavi Rao

A cropped chart showing the leaders in rough diamond mining and how much their diamond output is worth.

Ranked: World Diamond Mining By Country, Carat, and Value

Only 22 countries in the world engage in rough diamond production—also known as uncut, raw or natural diamonds—mining for them from deposits within their territories.

This chart, by Sam Parker illustrates the leaders in rough diamond production by weight and value. It uses data from Kimberly Process (an international certification organization) along with estimates by Dr. Ashok Damarupurshad, a precious metals and diamond specialist in South Africa.

Rough Diamond Production, By Weight

Russia takes the top spot as the world’s largest rough diamond producer, mining close to 42 million carats in 2022, well ahead of its peers.

ℹ️ Carat is the unit of measurement for the physical weight of diamonds. One carat equals 0.200 grams, which means it takes over 2,265 carats to equal 1 pound.

Russia’s large lead over second-place Botswana (24.8 million carats) and third-ranked Canada (16.2 million carats) indicates that the country’s diamond production is circumventing sanctions due to the difficulties in tracing a diamond’s origin.

Here’s a quick breakdown of rough diamond production in the world.

Rank	Country	Rough Diamond Production (Carats)
1	🇷🇺 Russia	41,923,910
2	🇧🇼 Botswana	24,752,967
3	🇨🇦 Canada	16,249,218
4	🇨🇩 DRC	9,908,998
5	🇿🇦 South Africa	9,660,233
6	🇦🇴 Angola	8,763,309
7	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	4,461,450
8	🇳🇦 Namibia	2,054,227
9	🇱🇸 Lesotho	727,737
10	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	688,970
11	🇹🇿 Tanzania	375,533
12	🇧🇷 Brazil	158,420
13	🇬🇳 Guinea	128,771
14	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	118,044
15	🇬🇾 Guyana	83,382
16	🇬🇭 Ghana	82,500
17	🇱🇷 Liberia	52,165
18	🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire	3,904
19	🇨🇬 Republic of Congo	3,534
20	🇨🇲 Cameroon	2,431
21	🇻🇪 Venezuela	1,665
22	🇲🇱 Mali	92
	Total	120,201,460

Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated.

As with most other resources, (oil, gold, uranium), rough diamond production is distributed unequally. The top 10 rough diamond producing countries by weight account for 99.2% of all rough diamonds mined in 2022.

Diamond Mining, by Country

However, higher carat mined doesn’t necessarily mean better value for the diamond. Other factors like the cut, color, and clarity also influence a diamond’s value.

Here’s a quick breakdown of diamond production by value (USD) in 2022.

Rank	Country	Rough Diamond Value (USD)
1	🇧🇼 Botswana	$4,975M
2	🇷🇺 Russia	$3,553M
3	🇦🇴 Angola	$1,965M
4	🇨🇦 Canada	$1,877M
5	🇿🇦 South Africa	$1,538M
6	🇳🇦 Namibia	$1,234M
7	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	$424M
8	🇱🇸 Lesotho	$314M
9	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	$143M
10	🇹🇿 Tanzania	$110M
11	🇨🇩 DRC	$65M
12	🇧🇷 Brazil	$30M
13	🇱🇷 Liberia	$18M
14	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	$15M
15	🇬🇾 Guyana	$14M
16	🇬🇳 Guinea	$6M
17	🇬🇭 Ghana	$3M
18	🇨🇲 Cameroon	$0.25M
19	🇨🇬 Republic of Congo	$0.20M
20	🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire	$0.16M
21	🇻🇪 Venezuela	$0.10M
22	🇲🇱 Mali	$0.06M
	Total	$16,290M

Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated. Furthermore, numbers have been rounded and may not sum to the total.

Thus, even though Botswana only produced 59% of Russia’s diamond weight in 2022, it had a trade value of nearly $5 billion, approximately 1.5 times higher than Russia’s for the same year.

Another example is Angola, which is ranked 6th in diamond production, but 3rd in diamond value.

Both countries (as well as South Africa, Canada, and Namibia) produce gem-quality rough diamonds versus countries like Russia and the DRC whose diamonds are produced mainly for industrial use.

Which Regions Produce the Most Diamonds in 2022?

Unsurprisingly, Africa is the largest rough diamond producing region, accounting for 51% of output by weight, and 66% by value.

Rank	Region	Share of Rough Diamond Production (%)	Share of Rough Diamond Value (%)
1	Africa	51.4%	66.4%
2	Europe	34.9%	32.9%
3	North America	13.5%	52.8%
4	South America	0.2%	2.4%

However diamond mining in Africa is a relatively recent phenomenon, fewer than 200 years old. Diamonds had been discovered—and prized—as far back as 2,000 years ago in India, later on spreading west to Egyptian pharaohs and the Roman Empire.

By the start of the 20th century, diamond production on a large scale took off: first in South Africa, and decades later in other African countries. In fact between 1889–1959, Africa produced 98% of the world’s diamonds.

And in the latter half of the 20th century, the term blood diamond evolved from diamonds mined in African conflict zones used to finance insurgency or crime.