Among the Top 25 United States and Canada-based restaurant chains ranked by worldwide, systemwide sales, McDonald’s dominated in terms of systemwide sales, with a latest-year take of $88.3 billion, but Chipotle Mexican Grill led in sales growth, with year-over-year improvement of 20.3 percent, according to Nation’s Restaurant News’ research.

Data

• U.S.-Canada chains by worldwide sales, growth
• U.S.-Canada companies by worldwide sales, growth

To allow for comparisons with the performance of the Top 25 chains and companies from outside the U.S. and Canada, as compiled by Euromonitor International for NRN’s annual International Top 25 report, NRN looked into the worldwide sales, unit counts and estimated sales per unit of U.S.-Canada-based operators. In the case of U.S.-Canada-based companies, worldwide systemwide sales for all brands they control were investigated.

The U.S.-Canada data compiled were primarily from the latest completed fiscal year for each chain, with most of the end dates for those periods coming in December 2012. The Starbucks and Jack in the Box chain and company numbers are for fiscal years ended in September 2012, and the Sonic Drive-In chain and parent data are for the 12 months ended in August 2012.

Joining Chipotle in the Top 5 U.S.-Canada group for worldwide sales growth, and their rate of latest-year growth, were Little Caesars Pizza, 18.2 percent; Starbucks, 14.3 percent; Chick-fil-A, 14.2 percent; and Panera Bread, 13.0 percent. No. 25 was Chili’s Grill & Bar. 1.2 percent.

The Top 5 U.S.-Canada chains, related to growth in latest-year worldwide units, and their rates of growth, were Chipotle, 14.6 percent; Panera Bread, 7.6 percent; Papa John’s Pizza, 7.2 percent; Little Caesars, 6.5 percent; and Subway, 6.4 percent. No. 25 was Arby’s, which saw its total unit count decrease by 2.3 percent. All of those Top 5 growth chains operate the clear majority of their restaurants in the U.S., with their international locations representing the following percentages of their worldwide numbers: Subway, 33.2 percent; Papa John’s, 24.8 percent; Little Caesars, 14.6 percent; Chipotle, 0.7 percent; and Panera Bread, 0.4 percent.

Standouts among the Top 25 U.S.-Canada companies, in terms of those whose portfolio’s of brands had the greatest growth in latest-year aggregate systemwide sales, and their growth rates, were multi-concept, private-equity concern Roark Capital Group, 58.3 percent; Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., 20.3 percent; Little Caesars-parent Ilitch Holdings Inc.; 18.2 percent; Starbucks Corp., 14.3 percent; and Chick-fil-A, 14.2 percent. No. 25 was Sun Capital Partners, -13.9 percent. The majority of sales associated with all of those companies was generated within the U.S.