Top Restaurant Chains Experience Modest Growth in 2018

The Top 500 restaurant chains will experience modest sales growth as 2018 closes, according to Technomic's first-ever Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report 2018 Forecast. The report projects that these chains' sales will grow 3.2% by the end of the year. The report also provides segment- and menu category-level growth along with chain-level sales and unit counts for the leading 100 chains.

"We're seeing some major movement within the top 10 chain rankings based on our 2018 projections," said Joe Pawlak, Technomic managing principal. "Several growth players that we've been watching over the past couple of years are starting to encroach upon chains that are struggling to overcome branding and operational challenges."

Key trends and highlights include:

• After dipping to 3.0% in 2017, Technomic forecasts that cumulative sales growth for the Top 500 chains will increase modestly to 3.2% in 2018.
• The quick-service segment is forecasted to increase its sales this year, propelled by the impressive sales growth from Taco Bell, Chick-fil-A, and Domino's as well as another solid year from McDonald's.
• Growth for the fast-casual segment is forecasted to remain strong but the days of annual double-digit sales growth have likely concluded.
• Sales growth for full-service chains is expected to improve marginally in 2018 after having slowed to 0.9% in 2017.

The forecast report was developed as an extension of the annual Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. Technomic leveraged year-to-date performance data from its Transaction Insights product as well as investor releases from publicly held companies. Each chain's growth trajectory from prior Top 500 reports were also considered.

To learn more about this report and all the other annual industry reports that Technomic produces, visit https://www.technomic.com/available-studies/industry-reports.