These were the fastest growing and shrinking restaurants last year
There is much talk of fast-casual concepts enjoying rapid growth, but only four of the 10 fastest growing chains in terms of sales fit in that category.
The fastest-growing chain was 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee, a quick-service concept that sold $191 million worth of coffee and other items in 2023, up by more than 267%. That was followed by casual-dining Korean barbecue concept KPOT, which saw sales of $297 million, up by almost 252%.
Other quick-service concepts in the top 10 fastest-growing chains are Salad and Go, HTeaO, and Playa Bowls.
Huckleberry’s Breakfast and Lunch, a family-dining concept, saw a healthy growth of nearly 47%. Top performing fast-casual concepts were Dave’s Hot Chicken, Just Salad, CAVA, and Huey Magoo’s.
On the other end, some of the fastest shrinking restaurants were fast-casual, too. In the “Oh yeah, what happened to them?” category are Fuddruckers and Corner Bakery, which saw sales declines of 21% and 22%, respectively. Au Bon Pain’s sales were down by 36%.
Boston Market’s collapse has been more widely reported on, having closed more than two thirds of its restaurants in 2023 — down to 91 units from 280. It saw sales plummet 57% to $149 million.
Quiznos continued its many-years-long descent, as sales fell by 14%.
Rounding out the list of fastest shrinkers are casual-dining concepts Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Grand Lux Cafe, Joe’s Crab Shack, TGI Fridays, and O’Charley’s.
Recently bankrupt Red Lobster saw sales shrink by just over 8% in 2023, to $2.17 billion.
Meet 2024 top 500 biggest restaurant chains America
All data courtesy Technomic Ignite Company data. Looking for more data? Click here to access the complete Technomic Top 500.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
