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The 10 biggest Bakery/Café restaurants in AmericaThe 10 biggest Bakery/Café restaurants in America

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, Managing Editor

September 26, 2023

10 Slides
Corner Bakery

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As we continue our journey through the biggest restaurants in America by segment, this week we turn our attention to the first limited-service category on our list: Bakery/Café.

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, unit, and estimated sales per unit. NRN has been analyzing the Top 10 restaurant chains in each segment by sales.

These 10 restaurants, out of 22 on the full Top 500, saw more movement than the full-service segments we’ve looked at, with three experiencing systemwide sales losses in 2022 as consumers continued to return to full-service dining experiences. Six of these chains closed net units last year, although all 10 grew their estimated sales per unit — a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy segment.

It wasn’t all bad news. Last year’s No. 10 bakery-café chain grew sales by 36.1% and units by 25.5% in 2022 to end up No. 4 on this list. And the No. 1 chain maintained its spot, growing sales by 12.3%.

Click through the gallery to see the 10 biggest bakery-café restaurant chains in America.

About the Author

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister

Managing Editor

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister is a managing editor for Informa’s Foodservices Vertical, specifically Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, and Foodservice Director.  Leigh Anne works on all of the brands’ special reports, including Nation’s Restaurant News’ annual Top 500 report and Restaurant Hospitality’s Best Cocktails and Best Sandwiches contests. She also manages the group’s digital engagement team, and was the managing editor for Supermarket News until December 2024.

Leigh Anne lives in New York City, but also claims Phoenix, Dallas and Cleveland as hometowns. Leigh Anne holds a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, where she also studied European history. 

Email Leigh Anne at [email protected] 

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister’s experience: 

  • Group Managing Editor, Informa’s Foodservices Vertical (Aug. 2021-present)

  • Group Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (Feb. 2020-Aug. 2021)

  • Digital Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (April 2018-Feb. 2020)

  • Digital Content Producer, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (June 2016-April 2018)

  • Community Moderator, Mail Online (March 2014-June 2016)

  • Wire Editor, Gannett’s Phoenix Design studio (The Arizona Republic, The Reno Gazette-Journal, The Statesman Journal, The Great Falls Tribune, The Visalia Times-Delta, The Tulare Advance Register, The Salinas Californian, The St. George Spectrum, The Desert Sun, The Coloradoan) (Jan. 2012-March 2014)

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