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The 10 biggest dessert/snack restaurants in AmericaThe 10 biggest dessert/snack restaurants in America

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, Managing Editor

October 25, 2023

10 Slides
Dessert snack

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The dessert/snack segment had a stellar year last year, with nine of the 10 biggest chains seeing an increase in systemwide sales, seven of those being at least a double-digit percentage increase.

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

The most remarkable story in this segment last year, perhaps unsurprisingly, was Crumbl Cookies. Crumbl saw its systemwide sales rise by 152.8% last year, skyrocketing from No. 17 in 2021 to No. 2 in 2022, knocking Great American Cookies off the Top 10 list.

There were other successes in dessert/snacks, last year, too. In addition to nine of these chain increasing systemwide sales last year, nine also increased estimated sales per unit, and seven opened net new units.

Click through the gallery to meet the 10 biggest dessert/snack restaurant brands 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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