The Top 15 Highest Earning Fast Food Chain Restaurants Annually

Fast food chains feed America cheap snacks and beverages that go down easily. It’s woven into the cultural food landscape, encompassing a massive ecosystem of franchises and loyal customers. Here, we dug through the data to compile our list of the 15 top-selling chains in the country per their 2024 revenue. According to Stock Analysis, revenue is “the amount of money a company receives from its business activities, such as sales of products or services….[revenue] does not take any expenses into account and is therefore different from profits.” The information we leveraged is publicly available — typically intended for shareholders — where we parsed the data for specifics on U.S. divisions of these companies since many are often globally scaled.

Fast food is supposed to be fun. It’s a treat for many and a regular source of sustenance for others. It’s delicious, democratic, and scientifically formulated to deliver the perfect balance of salt, sugar, and fat, for a massive dopamine surge. It is also addictive — especially on the coffee side — and always there for you at the next exit ramp. To see how much cash these chains made last year, greasy hand over ketchup-stained fist, grab a napkin, and read on to find out!

It should come as no surprise to see Starbucks at the top of our list, given the company’s ubiquity, market penetration, consistency, and the fact that what it sells is rather addictive. But also, if you’re wondering: Is Starbucks considered fast food? Yes, it is. Though, the brand is synonymous with what was once snobby-sounding coffee. You can get a decent little breakfast there, but most of us visit to get a dose of caffeine.

This company has roots on the West Coast dating back to 1971, with the first location officially opening at Pike’s Place, in Seattle. However, the Starbucks you know mostly came into its own with the joining of former CEO Howard Shulz in 1982, who championed the more high-brow nomenclature like “ventis” and “grandes,” for drink sizes. In all of the possible iterations, the chain offers 113 different drinks. Simply put, if you like coffee, you eventually end up at a Starbucks, hence the staggering 2024 revenue of $36 billion. Bottom’s up!

Surely you’re not shocked to see the king of fast food near the top of our list? It’s hard to argue with the sheer cultural, economic, and culinary impact of McDonald’s since its opening over 80 years ago. From 1940 to now, McDonald’s has created a burger empire, tantalizing American tastebuds in over 13,637 locations. Utterly remarkable, to say the least. And despite making a few blunders here and there, it seems that McDonald’s is bulletproof as far as global fast food franchises go. The numbers don’t lie; it’s no surprise that a company selling about 75 burgers a second would tally up $26 billion in revenue in the U.S. last year.

You could say that McDonald’s found a winning formula early on while continually adapting and introducing new menu items, unlike other fast food chains like In-N-Out. From The Economist’s “Big Mac Index,” where the burger’s price in various countries is used by professors to explain the disparities of globalization, to “Supersize Me,” a 2004 documentary about a man who only consumed McDonald’s for 30 days, to the non-profit Ronald McDonald House Charities organization, the restaurant is undeniably tied to pop culture. Its strength is its consistency: a McNugget in Jakarta will taste the same as a McNugget in Cleveland. For these reasons and more, McDonald’s made the second most money annually.

There’s so much to say about Chick-fil-A, coming in at number three in our list of top revenues. If you follow the company, you may not be surprised by this market dominance. The restaurant makes a mean chicken sandwich, and many other tantalizing snacks, all of which are hard to ignore and not salivate over when passing by one.

This chicken brain trust started in Atlanta in 1946, with brothers S. Truett Cathy and Ben Cathy inventing the sandwich at that time. Years later, in 1967, Truett opened the first official Chick-fil-A restaurant and grew massively while the company is, and has always been, family-owned. The fast food chain operates over 3000 franchised restaurants across 48 states in the Continental U.S., with other locations in Puerto Rico and Canada bringing the total up to 3,236. That’s a lot of chicken. While the company makes some cheeky, if flagrant, claims about inventing the fried chicken sandwich as we know it, they hit the spot. With $21.6 billion to show for revenue last year, the chain has an undeniably winning recipe.

While the majority of our list is comprised of fast food in the traditional burger-and-fries sense, Dunkin’ is technically considered fast food just like Starbucks. Residents of the U.S. will likely not bat an eye to find out the chain took in the fourth most revenue last year. These coffee shops are on every corner, after all, and well, you know how that slogan goes.

If you don’t know much about the company, it has roots on the East Coast, founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts. As the story goes, William Rosenberg — an 8th-grade dropout, notably — founded Dunkin’ (then Dunkin’ Donuts), and pushed for franchising, which influenced other fast food chains as a means of rapid expansion in mid-century America. The company now has over 13,700 locations in 40 different countries. Its parent company, Inspire Brands, owns Arby’s, Jimmy John’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, and SONIC as a private enterprise.

Lovers of Mexican food have probably wound up in the hands of Big Burrito on occasion, getting their fix of a close approximation to the cuisine. Ranking this high on our list makes sense if you walk downtown in any major city, as you’re sure to see evidence of the franchise’s expansion and dominance in the fast food space. Perhaps an arguably healthier option, it does well to get you in and out the door with a made-to-order meal done right before your eyes. The company claims to deal with ethically-raised meats and sustainably sourced ingredients for those customizable burritos it churns out.

The pandemic allowed Chipotle to grow its online orders. They surged nearly 174% at the peak, which may explain why so many food delivery drivers clutched the brand’s brown paper bags during Covid. With 3,726 locations across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, and Germany, Chipotle continues to expand, pushing for 7,000 locations worldwide. Having this much momentum, we think that’s doable!

Taco Bell may surprise a few of you at number six in our list of top fast food revenues, but $7.5 billion is nothing to sneeze at. That’s a lot of Crunchwrap Supremes getting taken down from coast to coast. Whether it’s the drive-thru, Uber Eats, or an in-person visit to a Taco Bell, you’re getting a very distant cousin to Mexican cuisine, albeit quickly. From the Cheesy Gordita Crunch to the Chicken Quesadilla, the Nacho Fries, or the Burrito Supreme, Taco Bell does high-calorie Mexican-American style food its own way. 

The company started in 1954, with founder Glen Bell opening a small taco shop that evolved into the first official Taco Bell store, in Downey, California, in 1962. With a cute Chihuahua making appearances in the company’s late ’90s and early 2000s TV commercials, to faces like Pete Davidson now showing up, to becoming Doritos chip flavors, the company has somehow remained relevant in the cultural conversation.

With $5.5 billion in total revenue for 2024, we have Sonic Drive-In. The restaurant got its start in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a place with a pretty serious burger culture. As of last year, there are 3,400 locations across 46 different states, covering the totality of the country. Sorry to our international readers, but Sonic Drive-In is an American-only chain, with no restaurants outside the country. If you happen to live elsewhere and know Sonic, perhaps even being a fan, hopefully someday it expands into your neck of the woods.

After being publicly traded, in 2018, the fast food chain was adopted into the family of companies called Inspire Brands, acting as the parent organization. Sonic, like so many others on this list, has roots in mid-century America during that time of progress and growth. Founded in 1959, it became known as a drive-thru with a carhop service, where orders were delivered to patrons via roller-skating servers. Pure Americana!

As one of only two pizza chains on our list, Domino’s has bested its rival Pizza Hut with an impressive $4.7 billion in revenue. The company is synonymous with fast pizza deliveries, so it’s no surprise that it is integrated into the modern fast food chain ecosystem. To wit, from the years 1973 to 1993, the pizza conglomerate put out a 30-minute delivery guarantee, making them quite famous for the policy. Free pizzas were to be given to customers who had to wait longer. Until this day, in certain markets around the world, Domino’s still stands by the pledge.

Moving into the 2000s, the company was one of the first to introduce real-time order tracking in 2008 — pre-Uber Eats. This was a revelation — allowing customers to check their order status down to the minute. As of today, the chain operates a stunning 21,300 shops worldwide, with roughly 5,600 stateside. Is Domino’s pizza going to blow your socks off? Probably not. But it serves a purpose and is always there for you — you can rely on that!

Arby’s coming in at the ninth position in total revenue is perhaps noteworthy, as it seems to fly under the radar. Some people may refer to it as more of a novel fast food chain, where its lauded roast beef sandwiches may simply not come to mind with the hunger pangs hit. For many fast food fans, Arby’s is synonymous with those iconic curly fries, covered in seasoning that hits the spot, besides the aesthetic presentation that toddlers all the way to adults appreciate.

The chain was founded in 1964 by the Raffel brothers as a fast food concept focussing on roast beef sandwiches, creating a niche for them outside of the typical hamburger-style fast food. After selling the brand to RC Cola in 1976, it continued to grow, but always in the shadows of those golden arches and other competitors. Arby’s is currently operating 3,398 restaurants in the U.S., with a large presence in the Midwest — Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana have the most locations. Those thinly sliced roast beef sandwiches on a toasted sesame roll are still the company’s bread and butter.

As the youngest company our list, with started in Kirkwood, Missouri, in 1987, Panera Bread makes a mean sandwich. The story goes that founders Ken and Linda Rosenthal used a sourdough starter from San Francisco in the early days, lending them artisan credibility and informing the brand’s DNA. Amongst all of the fast food chains on our list, the restaurant may seem to have a slight health edge, offering menu items that seem, on the surface, not to be food-coma-inducing. That said, it is a fast food restaurant through and through, as the company is known for its speedy service and affordability.

With a rebrand in 1997, morphing into a bakery-café, the chain rapidly expanded. In 2004, the company was an early adopter of publicly offered Wi-Fi, way ahead of its time. As for the food, the Broccoli Cheddar Soup is comfort food 101, especially on a cold, crappy day. Panera Bread also claims to be able to make over 800 different pairings and combinations with all of its menu items, which is rather impressive.

At number eleven in our rankings, KFC outshines its main competitor, Popeyes, in the fried chicken arena. At this stage in the game, when you talk about fried chicken, it’s impossible not to mention KFC, or as it was once referred to, Kentucky Fried Chicken. The branding and chicken are pure Americana, with some seriously moist and delicious chicken to back it up. It’s all about that seasoning with 11 herbs and spices — a secret recipe, still all these years later — that has a mythological lore, adding heft to the cultural impact of the brand.

When Colonel Harland Sanders started a roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, little did he know then how far the company — and his famous recipe — would go, bucket after bucket of deliciousness. With a marketing slogan like “Finger Lickin’ Good” back in the day, that weird but tasty greenish coleslaw, and a legendary seasoning blend, the Colonel struck gold with his restaurant. To the Colonel!

Years ago, it almost felt like Burger King was a heavy hitter in the industry, but the numbers don’t lie — it’s more of a second-tier operation. Perhaps the name is too aggressive? It is certainly a tall order to live up to a name like Burger King, with so many incredible burger options in the marketplace. All that said, $2.3 billion in revenue isn’t terrible, while the company feels like a legacy brand at this point. 

As with the story of American fast food writ large, many restaurants first opened in the middle of the 20th century; Burger King is no different. In 1953, the chain opened its first location in Jacksonville, Florida, with Keith Kramer and Matthew Burns at the helm. Taking inspiration from McDonald’s, it soon found a slight restructuring in 1959 in Miami with a change of ownership. It continued to refine and expand on the heels of the Whopper’s introduction in 1961. With nearly 7,000 locations in the U.S., Burger King is still chugging along nicely.

Towards the end of our list, Wendy’s did $2.2 billion of reported revenue in 2024. It’s the last traditional burger-and-fries chain on the list, but it shouldn’t ever be counted out. From the Junior Bacon Cheeseburger to those slightly thicker, perfectly seasoned fries, to the Frosty and those square patties in a circular patty world, Wendy’s has stayed in its lane with tasty offerings for decades.

Founder Dave Thomas, who was quite public for a time — showing up in many of the chain’s TV commercials — started the company in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio. Naming the restaurant after his daughter, it quickly took off, with 6,010 locations across the U.S. today. Though Wendy’s tends to get overshadowed by the bigger players, having fewer franchises than other chains, it might not be a food destination for those burger cravings. Still, the restaurant is unique enough, making quality food to keep flying below the radar, with many diehard fans out there.

For many Americans, Pizza Hut is an early nostalgic memory of first having pizza or perhaps celebrating an early birthday. It’s also the only restaurant on our list that does table-side, dine-in service at some of its locations. Fans of pan pizza know very well that, despite being considered fast food, Pizza Hut can create tasty pies to order, banging them out fast. They’re regular pie is thicker and heavier, with additional offerings like a New York-inspired pizza called the XL Big New Yorker, and classics like Hawaiian, hitting the spot.

In 1958, two brothers — Dan and Frank Carney (Wichita State students at the time) — founded Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas. As broke students obsessed with pizza, the two decided to borrow $600 from their mother to fund the investment, making it hard to imagine a more humble and wholesome beginning. Now, with 16,000 locations operating in more than 100 countries, and employing a global pizza-making army of 350,000, the legacy and origins are all the more impressive. Hats off to the Carney brothers for their entrepreneurial spirit and pizza panache at such a young age!

Well, here we are in last place with Popeyes, at a sub-billion-dollar revenue total for 2024. Putting down $768 million on the books, it’s clear that the restaurant is relatively niche, you could say. However, as many customers know well, the chain does a pretty stellar fried chicken sandwich, with some preferring it over other chicken-centric restaurants. Popeyes has its roots in the South, where it opened up shop in a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1976. 

This makes it one of the younger fast-food chains on our list, but with such a rich culinary history in New Orleans, the credibility and pedigree are certainly there. The chain now has 3,145 restaurants in operation across 49 states and territories. Popeyes seems to ride the line between mainstream and having more of a cult-like following. However, one thing is certain here: the company excels at making delicious chicken.