Every year, Nation’s Restaurant News and Datassential partner to present The Top 500, the definitive sales ranking of restaurants in America.
One element of this data is restaurant segment, meaning each can be broken down by systemwide domestic sales, units, and estimated sales per unit. Over the coming weeks, NRN will analyze the Top 10 restaurant chains in each segment by sales, starting today with full-service American restaurant chains.
These 10 chains all saw systemwide sales growth in 2022, some as much as 27.1%, reflecting the full-service industry as a whole, which spent much of the year lapping a disappointing 2021 COVID-related performance. But only six of these chains added units in 2022, with three closing net units (TGI Fridays, Red Robin and Applebee’s) and one coming out even (The Cheesecake Factory). One chain (Lazy Dog) grew units by 10%.
While we didn’t break this segment out last year, we can share that there was a shuffle at the top, with the No. 1 and No. 2 chains on this list swapping places. Meanwhile, Ruby Tuesday fell off the list after coming in at No. 9 last year, and has been replaced by the restaurant now at No. 10.
Click through the gallery to see the 10 biggest full-services American restaurants in the U.S.