The just-released 2023 Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report from CSP sister research firm Technomic includes expert findings and insights into the sales performance of U.S. chain restaurants in 2022.
The report, built using decades of historical data, offers a detailed analysis of the foodservice industry and overarching trends, annual sales and unit counts by chain and segment.
It also includes Top 500 sales forecasts for 2023.
“Unprecedented levels of foodservice inflation had a major effect on the industry’s largest chain restaurants in 2022,” said Kevin Schimpf, director, industry research and insights at Technomic. “Soaring menu prices proved to be the biggest factor behind the 8% sales growth posted by Top 500 chain restaurants in 2022.”
In addition, location development also boosted chain performance as the Top 500’s overall footprint expanded beyond its pre-pandemic total, Schimpf said.
Key findings include:
- Top 500 chain sales climbed to $393 billion in 2022, expanding by 8.2% compared with 2021
- The primary driver of sales growth in 2022 was sizable menu price increases across most Top 500 chains, as consumer traffic remained flat relative to 2021
- The combined Top 500 footprint includes about 230,000 locations, exceeding its comparable 2019 benchmark
- The pace of chain merger and acquisition deals saw a noticeable deceleration in 2022 after a high volume of activity in 2021
- Three more chains crossed the billion-dollar sales threshold in 2022, expanding the list of billion-dollar chains in the Top 500 to 53 companies
Technomic has been producing a ranking of top U.S. chain restaurants since 1978. The latest ranking is available for purchase here.
Technomic was founded as a management consulting firm in 1966. Since then, its services have grown to encompass cloud-based business-to-business research tools, consumer and menu trend tracking and other leading strategic research and analytic capabilities, to prioritize and size business opportunities. Clients include food manufacturers and distributors, restaurants, retailers and multiple other business verticals aligned with the food industry that are looking to make informed decisions to support their business growth.
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