Ranked: The Top Fast-Food Burger Chains in America

    Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, and more battle it out in fast-food's oldest battleground.

    Fast Food | August 1, 2023 | QSR Staff
    Wendy's Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger.
    Wendy's
    Wendy's has settled into the No. 2 spot.

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    2022 ranking company category 2022 us systemwide sales millions 2022 average sales per unit thousands 2022 franchisedlicensed units 2022 company units 2022 total units total change in units from 2021
    1 McDonald's Burger 48734 3625 12751 693 13444 6
    2 Wendy's Burger 11694 1973 5591 403 5994 56
    3 Burger King Burger 10278 1508 6993 50 7043 -61
    4 Sonic Drive-In Burger 5499 1600 3221 325 3546 -6
    5 Jack in the Box Burger 4111 1837 2034 146 2180 -38
    6 Whataburger Burger 3340 3725 140 785 925 52
    7 Culver's Burger 2830 3280 886 6 892 56
    8 Five Guys Burger 2204 1718 831 578 1409 19
    9 Hardee's Burger 2020 1168 1512 195 1707 45
    10 Carl's Jr. Burger 1555 1463 1020 48 1068 1
    11 In-N-Out Burger* Burger 1125 2970 0 379 379 12
    12 Shake Shack* Burger 994 3800 33 254 287 44
    13 Checkers/Rally's Burger 858 996 551 255 806 28
    14 Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers Burger 808 1840 427 29 456 36

     

    About the QSR 50/

    The QSR 50 is an annual ranking of limited-service restaurant companies by U.S. system-wide sales. QSR magazine collected information directly from restaurant companies from March to May 2023, and also partnered with Circana, a leading adviser on the complexity of consumer behavior. Circana leveraged multiple data products and services from its research product portfolio, combined with experienced analyst estimates. Sales estimates represent each chain’s total U.S. system for the year ending December 2022, and were anchored on CREST, Circana’s flagship syndicated study of consumer purchases of restaurant prepared meals, snacks, and beverages. Unit counts source to the fall 2022 release of Circana’s ReCount service, a census of chains and independent restaurant locations regularly updated since 1988. Today, ReCount provides unit counts and trends for over 1.2 million foodservice operators. These primary sources, combined with other proprietary Circana data, public reporting, and analysis, generate this new, industry-standard restaurant ranking.

    * indicates figures estimated by QSR and Circana.

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