The 25 fastest growing fast food chains in America

The COVID pandemic has created an intense battle for fast service market share.

Many of the top fast food restaurants boast about the enthusiasm of their franchisees.

“If you look at the last five years, and if you look at both the pizza industry and the [quick-service restaurant] the industry in terms of actual net store count and percentage, Domino’s is a leader in this area, and despite these numbers, we’re going to continue to be a leader,” said Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner. “Also, what I think it tells me is that while we continue to lead development, our franchisees are doing exactly what they need to do, which is balancing capacity needs between the current stores they have and the stores they need to open.”

Channels are also driven by their own growth. Chipotle, which is wholly owned by the company, opened 42 stores in the second quarter. Fast casual has a unit growth target of 8-10% per year, and it has the pipeline to do so. Eighty percent of sites in development are Chipotlanes, which feature higher AUVs and margins.

Every year the QSR 50 captures how top fast food players are improving their footprint on a yearly basis. Here is a ranking of the 25 fastest growing chains in the United States

Check out past results:

2021

2020

2019

2018

Other related lists:

The 50 Best Fast Food Chains of 2021

The 50 Biggest Fast Food Chains in America

These 32 fast food chains earn the most per restaurant

QSR contenders for 2022

To note: Unit count is for U.S. restaurants at the end of 2021.

Note: If you are viewing on a computer, please click the arrow in the image to continue. * Indicates estimate by QSR.