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.

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.

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.

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...

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...

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

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

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.

Weird vibes coming out of Jack in the Box right now.

Some ugly #restaurant #stocks this morning: Some restaurant stocks this morning: Dutch Bros: -14% Sweetgreen: -13% Fat Brands: -10% Shake Shack: -11% Bloomin' Brands: -10% Brinker, Jack in the Box, Dine Brands: -8%

All restaurant stocks are down this morning, a change from yesterday when a few big names like McDonald's and Yum Brands avoided the bloodbath.

Restaurants and bars added 29,800 jobs in March, a healthy addition after a couple of weak hiring months. Economy added 228k jobs last month. Unemployment rate unchanged at 4.2%.

Notable restaurant market declines today: Sweetgreen: -14% Chili's owner Brinker Intl.: -13% Cracker Barrel: -11% Shake Shack: -12% Starbucks: -11% Denny's: -9% Noodles: -8% S&P 500 Restaurant Index down 3%. Some big names with cheap menus (McDonald's, RBI, Yum Brands, Domino's) are up.

New: Chick-fil-A's system sales last year grew just 5.4%, a very un-Chick-fil-A-like year for them. They hadn't even had a rate of growth slower than 10% since 2013. It still makes $9 million+ per stand-alone location and $7.5 million overall. But the chain is apparently human.

So, per KBRA, the Hooters of America bankruptcy could trigger a "manager termination event" in its securitization, which means the company would quickly lose control over the assets used to secure its debt. This hadn't happened in 15 years before Fridays. Now it may happen again. (It hasn't yet)

So while the Hooters bankruptcy filing is big, I'm probably more concerned about news from Bloomberg over the weekend that Chuck E. Cheese is having problems getting investors interested in its $660M bond issue.1/3 www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/ch...

So this is going to come as a complete shock to you folks but the bankrupt Hooters of America has a lot of debt and it's causing problems. Also that interest rate.

I have to acknowledge that decades of enduring ridiculous April Fools press releases have made me dread this day largely because I have no idea what's true or what is not. Which makes this piece by @flourgrrrl.bsky.social rather refreshing ...

Bankruptcy filings by casual-dining chains over the last 10 months or so: Red Lobster TGI Fridays Buca di Beppo On the Border Bar Louie (Chapter 22) Now Hooters.

This story is our second in a series on the restaurant industry five years after COVID. @flourgrrrl.bsky.social interviewed some restaurant operators she spoke with in 2020. One of them is, apparently, a pig farmer now. www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/5...

Thinking about this today: Taco Bell, which is on pace to generate 8% same-store sales this quarter, is doing so after many of its restaurants gave up breakfast last year. So either its other dayparts are just killing it or its breakfast just didn't do anything. Probably both.

Another tough day on the stock markets. Only McDonald's, Wendy's and, you guessed it, Fat Brands are up today so far.

Tried Wendy’s Thin Mints Frosty’s alongside McDonald’s Shamrock Shake for science. The shake is good if you love mint. Wendy’s is good if you want to say you had something minty but do not like mint. (I’m part of the latter group.)

"We have the ability to do both." Brian Niccol at Starbucks annual meeting saying that the company has the ability to serve both on-the-go customers and those who want to stay a while. "We just need to bring order to how we do it."

Grocery prices were flat last month while restaurant prices rose 0.4%. Over the past year, restaurant prices were up 3.7%, compared with 1.9% at grocers. Limited-service restaurants up 3.5% yoy. Full-service restaurants 3.7%.

Well this is interesting. McDonald's creating a "Restaurant Experience Team" with teams focusing on different areas including beef, chicken and beverages/desserts. The idea is to compete more directly with "specialists" that focus on just one of these areas.

Thinking quite a bit about this passage. This is from our story on the Applebee's-IHOP combination. The menu was so complicated that half of the employees quit. Half! I think if you lose that many people, you're doing it wrong. But that's just me. www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/i...

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m ready for SHAMROCK SHAKE season. ‘Tis the first green of spring! (1979)

This Uber-DoorDash lawsuit is 100% worth watching. Fascinating allegations and I'm guessing these two companies do not like one another. www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/technology/u...

More layoffs at Panera Bread as the bakery/cafe chain shutters two more baking facilities in California. 350 jobs eliminated. www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/p...

Yum Brands U.S. 4Q same-store sales: KFC -5% Taco Bell 5% Pizza Hut -2% Habit: flat $YUM

Starbucks earnings call summary: Performance improved throughout the quarter; Not everything needs a Siren system; Company testing new mobile order algorithm; Older customers are OK; Bigtime menu cuts are coming; Company sold more coffee, less holiday beverages; Earnings improvements coming. $SBUX

Layoffs are coming at Starbucks, like clockwork.