Many of the major U.S. foodservice operators working to build sales and profits as a safeguard against unforeseen expenses in their most recent completed fiscal years found time to be no ally, as recessionary pressures mounted with each passing month.
The 36th Annual Nation’s Restaurant News Top 100 census of the largest foodservice chains ranked by U.S. systemwide sales shows that the country’s mightiest multiunit operators in their last finished fiscal years pushed up their aggregate total take by 3.85 percent, to $208.11 billion. However, that rate of growth was down substantially from the 5.47-percent year-over-year gain that group managed in the preceding period.
Aggregate U.S. revenue among the separately tracked Top 100 companies, or multiconcept and multichain organizations ranked on the basis of domestic revenues, rose by 9.79 percent, to $123.33 billion. Much of the latest-year gain was tied to full-year results from entities acquired by Top 100 companies part-way through the preceding year and, in comparison, the increase paled next to the 16.48-percent growth rate of a year earlier.
The second installment of NRN’s annual census, the Second 100, noting the trials, tribulations and triumphs of chains and companies ranked Nos. 101 through 200, will be published in the July 27 issue of NRN.
McDonald’s, given its strong same-store sales performance of the past two years and the three-to-one sales advantage it has over its nearest rival, continued its reign as king of the Top 100 chains, with latest-year U.S. systemwide sales of $29.99 billion. Subway’s reported $1.41 billion year-over-year gain in U.S. systemwide sales, to $9.64 billion, unseated from the No. 2 spot Burger King, with estimated latest-year U.S. sales of $9.26 billion.
New among Top 100 chains this year are the Jason’s Deli sandwich chain, the Bon Appétit Management Co. contract foodservice operation and casual dining’s Famous Dave’s barbecue chain.
Eleven Top 100 chains saw double-digit growth in latest-year systemwide sales, including Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panda Express, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar and Zaxby’s. Those four chains were also among the 10 chains with the highest rates of year-over-year growth in total units.
At the end of the latest year, the aggregate base of restaurants operated or franchised by Top 100 chains totaled 195,227. The rate at which Top 100 chains, as a group, opened new restaurants slowed to 1.58 percent in the latest year, from 2.25 percent a year earlier, marking the third time in as many years that net new unit development growth fell below 3 percent.
The U.S. foodservice operations of Britain’s Compass Group PLC remained atop the separately tracked companies rankings, with estimated latest-year foodservice revenues of $7.72 billion, which represented a 10.93-percent enhancement of its preceding year’s total. Darden Restaurants Inc., on the strength of its Olive Garden casual-dining chain and the incremental sales of the LongHorn Steakhouse chain it acquired in the preceding year, hung onto its No. 2 position with a 6.72-percent rise in latest-year revenues, to $7.10 billion.
Newcomer companies to the Top 100 include convenience store operators Casey’s General Stores Inc. and Sheetz Inc., and investment group Apollo Management LP, which entered the census through the co-purchase with Texas Pacific Group of casino and resort operator Harrah’s Entertainment.
Contact Alan Liddle at [email protected].
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