Misc

Ranked: The 50 Most Popular Fast Food Chains in America

Published

2 years ago

September 28, 2020

Carmen Ang

U.S. Fast Food Sales in 2019 Infographic

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The 50 Most Popular Fast Food Chains in America

Millions of Americans eat at fast food restaurants every day—and they now have more options at their disposal than ever before.

From burgers to pad thai, there’s a quick service restaurant that’ll satisfy almost any appetite. With all this choice, which fast food chains are the most popular among consumers?

Using data from QSR Magazine, today’s infographic ranks the top 50 largest fast food chains in the U.S. by sales in 2019, providing insight into the types of foods Americans have been craving.

Fast Food Chains Ranked, by Revenue

In 2019, the 50 largest fast food chains in the U.S. generated over $200 billion in revenue. How do these quick service giants stack up against each other?

Rank	Company	Category	U.S. Sales, Billions (2019)
1	McDonald's	Burger	$40.41
2	Starbucks	Snack	$21.55
3	Chick-fil-A	Chicken	$11.00
4	Taco Bell	Global	$11.00
5	Burger King	Burger	$10.30
6	Subway	Sandwich	$10.00
7	Wendy's	Burger	$9.87
8	Dunkin'	Snack	$9.22
9	Domino's	Pizza	$7.10
10	Panera Bread	Sandwich	$5.93
11	Chipotle	Global	$5.52
12	Pizza Hut	Pizza	$5.38
13	KFC	Chicken	$4.82
14	Sonic Drive-In	Burger	$4.69
15	Arby's	Sandwich	$3.89
16	Little Caesars	Pizza	$3.85
17	Panda Express	Global	$3.80
18	Dairy Queen	Snack	$3.76
19	Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen	Chicken	$3.75
20	Jack in the Box	Burger	$3.51
21	Papa John's	Pizza	$2.66
22	Whataburger	Burger	$2.56
23	Jimmy John's	Sandwich	$2.11
24	Hardee's	Burger	$2.07
25	Zaxby's	Chicken	$1.84
26	Culver's	Burger	$1.73
27	Five Guys	Burger	$1.66
28	Raising Cane's	Chicken	$1.47
29	Wingstop	Chicken	$1.40
30	Carl's Jr.	Burger	$1.39
31	Jersey Mike's	Sandwich	$1.34
32	Bojangles'	Chicken	$1.29
33	In-N-Out Burger	Burger	$1.00
34	Steak 'n Shake	Burger	$0.93
35	El Pollo Loco	Chicken	$0.89
36	QDOBA	Global	$0.85
37	Checkers/Rally's	Burger	$0.86
38	Firehouse Subs	Sandwich	$0.86
39	Del Taco	Global	$0.85
40	Tim Hortons	Sandwich	$0.84
41	Moe's	Global	$0.79
42	Papa Murphy's	Pizza	$0.75
43	McAlister's Deli	Sandwich	$0.72
44	Jason's Deli	Sandwich	$0.71
45	Church's Chicken	Chicken	$0.70
46	Shake Shack	Burger	$0.63
47	Marco's Pizza	Pizza	$0.63
48	Baskin-Robbins	Snack	$0.63
49	Tropical Smoothie Café	Snack	$0.58
50	Auntie Anne's	Snack	$0.56

Unsurprisingly, McDonald’s comes in at number one with over $40 billion in sales. Despite a scandal involving its former CEO, McDonald’s still managed to significantly outsell its peers—the company made almost double that of the second-largest fast food chain, Starbucks.

But don’t worry, Starbucks did just fine for itself. With $21 billion in sales, the Seattle-based coffee chain saw a 5% increase compared to its numbers in 2018.

Top Selling Fast Food Categories

Based on the ranking, it’s clear that Americans still love their McDonald’s. But are burgers, in general, the most popular fast food item?

In short—yes. Burgers are king. Here’s a look at how burgers, pizza, chicken, and other food categories measure up:

Burger joints remain the most popular fast food option among consumers—14 of the 50 chains on the list are classified as burger restaurants, with $80 billion in collective sales.

Snacks come in at second place, with a total of $36 billion in revenue. Boasting a broad variety of foods from iced coffee to donuts and ice cream, six of the restaurants on the list are included in this category. Starbucks is the most popular, followed by Dunkin’ and Dairy Queen respectively.

While the chicken and sandwich categories both have nine restaurants included in the ranking, chicken restaurants outsold sandwiches by almost $1 billion. This is largely due to Chick-fil-A, which makes up more than a third of all chicken restaurant sales included in the ranking.

COVID Closures

It’s important to note that these numbers reflect the fast food industry before the devastating impacts of COVID-19. The global pandemic has forced many fast food restaurants to adapt, and it’s also triggered a number of restaurant shutdowns.

For instance, McDonald’s is set to permanently close 200 of its 14,000 U.S. locations, and Dunkin’ will be closing 450 restaurants by the end of 2020. Starbucks has also announced it’s planning to permanently shut down up to 400 locations by mid-2021.

With online sales more important than ever, the chains with a strong digital presence may be in a better position to weather the storm. Chains with physical distancing options, such as drive-throughs, could also recover quicker.

Related Topics:revenue fast food starbucks mcdonalds restaurants

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Misc

Visualizing the Odds of Dying from Various Accidents

This infographic shows you the odds of dying from a variety of accidents, including car crashes, bee stings, and more.

Published

4 days ago

January 27, 2023

Marcus Lu

Infographic: The Odds of Dying from Various Accidents

Fatal accidents account for a significant number of deaths in the U.S. every year. For example, nearly 43,000 Americans died in traffic accidents in 2021.

Without the right context, however, it can be difficult to properly interpret these figures.

To help you understand your chances, we’ve compiled data from the National Safety Council, and visualized the lifetime odds of dying from various accidents.

Data and Methodology

The lifetime odds presented in this graphic were estimated by dividing the one-year odds of dying by the life expectancy of a person born in 2020 (77 years).

Additionally, these numbers are based on data from the U.S., and likely differ in other countries.

Type of Accident	Lifetime odds of dying (1 in #)
Motor vehicle accident	101
Complications of medical and surgical care	798
Alcohol poisoning	1,606
Accidental building fire	1,825
Choking on food	2,745
Drowning in swimming pool	5,782
Sunstroke	6,368
Accidental firearm discharge	7,998
Drowning	10,386
Airplane accident	11,756
Bee or wasp sting	57,825
Dog attack	69,016
Lightning strike	138,849

For comparison’s sake, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292,000,000. In other words, you are 4000x more likely to die by a lightning strike over your lifetime than to win the Powerball lottery.

Continue reading below for further context on some of these accidents.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of accidental deaths in the U.S., with a 1 in 101 chance of dying. This is quite a common way of dying, especially when compared to something like bee stings (1 in 57,825).

Unfortunately, a major cause of vehicle deaths is impaired driving. The CDC reports that 32 Americans are killed every day in crashes involving alcohol, which equates to one death every 45 minutes.

For further context, consider this: 30% of all traffic-related deaths in 2020 involved alcohol-impaired drivers.

Drowning

The odds of drowning in a swimming pool (1 in 5,782) are significantly higher than those of drowning in general (1 in 10,386). According to the CDC, there are 4,000 fatal drownings every year, which works out to 11 deaths per day.

Drowning also happens to be a leading cause of death for children. It is the leading cause for kids aged 1-4, and second highest cause for kids aged 5-14.

A rather surprising fact about drowning is that 80% of fatalities are male. This has been attributed to higher rates of alcohol use and risk-taking behaviors.

Accidental Firearm Discharge

Lastly, let’s look at accidental firearm deaths, which have lifetime odds of 1 in 7,998. That’s higher than the odds of drowning (general), as well as dying in an airplane accident.

This shouldn’t come as a major surprise, since the U.S. has the highest rates of gun ownership in the world. More importantly, these odds highlight the importance of properly securing one’s firearms, as well as learning safe handling practices.

As a percentage of total gun-related deaths (45,222 in 2020), accidental shootings represent a tiny 1%. The two leading causes are suicide (54%) and homicide (43%).

Interested in learning more about death? Revisit one of our most popular posts of all time: Visualizing the History of Pandemics.