Eating at fast food restaurants has become a way of life in the new millennium. People are forever busy and hardly find the time or the money to have a full meal. It is one of the reasons why fast food restaurant business is doing so well across the world.
Of late, there has been some change in the menu at fast food restaurants. Most have begun adding healthy food options to their menus. But there is still a long way to go, and in all probability, fast foods may never actually offer you a balanced meal.
Provided below is a list of the top 5 largest fast food restaurant chains in the world. The list is based on the total number of restaurant outlets in different locations in the world.
It may be uncanny that all the top 5 are American companies, but it will not be surprising as the US is the birth place of fast food. It is therefore no wonder that America has a size population with obesity problems.
Headquartered in Milford, Connecticut, USA, Subway is the largest fast food restaurant chain in the world. The first store was opened by Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1965 and was known as ‘Pete’s Super Submarines’. It was renamed as Subway in 1968 and since then has grown to 42,600 outlets in 107 countries. This multi-billion brand is still a family-owned business; the DeLuca Family is the owner.
The key products available at subway are submarine sandwiches and salads, with an incredible 38 million sandwich options. Every day, nearly 8 million sandwiches are served at its worldwide outlets. Other popular products include tuna, roasted chicken, subway club, chicken teriyaki, and subway melt, etc. It may also be noted that the make and service of products at subway restaurants differs from one location to another. For 2020, the revenue for Subway was $10.4 billion.
Based in Chicago, Illinois, McDonald’s was the first globally known fast food restaurant. The well-known ‘M’ of McDonald’s is one of the most recognized brand logos in the world. It may have been overtaken with regards to the most number of worldwide locations, but it remains the world’s largest fast food restaurant chain by revenue. In 2020, it generated revenue of $20.8 billion, has 38,695 outlets in 119 nations around the world, and employs over 1.69 million people.
The signature product of McDonald’s is the hamburger. Over 67 million consumers visit the worldwide outlets each day; it sells about 75 hamburgers every second around the world. Other popular McDonald’s products are French fries, chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, soft drinks/sodas, and desserts.
The business was founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California in 1940. Ray Kroc joined the business in 1948 and it began to grow rapidly from there on. The company introduced many new services and products which have become the basis of every contemporary fast food business. Additionally, partnerships with varied entertainment corporations have resulted in McDonald’s becoming the largest distributor of small and big toys.
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Starbucks mainly sells coffee but is regarded as a fast food restaurant chain. It is the world’s largest coffee company which also sells fast food products, wines, beer, cold and hot beverages, and snacks. It offers a staggering 86,999 combinations of drinks options to its customers. Annually, Starbucks uses over 2.29 billion cups and nearly 94 million gallons of milk for servicing its customers.
Starbucks founded by three friends Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker in 1971. They began by selling high-quality coffee beans; later they also started brewing and selling coffee. The coffee chain quickly became popular on the US west coast. The founders sold the company in 1987 to Howard Schultz who aggressively expanded the company across America and the world. It now has 31,256 outlets in 64 countries and generated revenue of $26.7 billion in 2020.
More famous as KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken is one of the oldest active fast food restaurant chains and the fourth largest in the world. Owned by Yum! Brands, Inc. and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it currently has 24,104 outlets across 118 countries. In the US alone, over 7.9 million customers visit KFC very day. Its revenue for the year 2020 is $26.2 billion.
The signature product of KFC is the pressure fried chicken pieces, whose recipe is still a secret and kept locked in a safe in Louisville. Other major KFC products are popcorn chicken, chicken burgers, and different kinds of finger foods.
KFC was founded by former US Army soldier Harland Sanders in a town called North Corbin, Kentucky in 1930. His image is widely used in the brand logo and in advertisements around the world. Sanders passed away in 1980.
Burger King is the fifth largest fast food restaurant chain in the world and the third largest burger chain in the US. Founded in 1953, it is currently owned by Restaurant Brands International, Inc. with its headquarters in Miami, Florida. It has 18,838 outlets in 79 countries on the planet. In 2020, it generated revenues of $1.3 billion.
The signature product of Burger King is the Whopper Sandwich, introduced in 1957. Every day, over 1 million customers visit their worldwide outlets and consume nearly 2 million whopper sandwiches.
Others
Pizza-based fast food restaurant chains Pizza Hut and Domino’s are the 6th and 7th largest in the world in terms of the number of worldwide outlets. Their revenues for 2020 were $3.62 billion and $1.37 billion respectively.
The only non-North American fast food restaurant in the top 20 largest list is Jollibee from Philippines. It has about 4,593 worldwide outlets and is the 19th largest in the world. It generated revenues of $2.185 billion in 2016.
Largest fast food restaurant chains in the World (Top 5) – Video
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