The rise of fast food chain restaurants was one of the most notable — and controversial — dining trends of the 20th century. Today there are more than 548,000 fast food restaurants in the world, with more than a third of them in the U.S. alone. If Americans are driving the world's fast food industry, what are their favorites in a marketplace that is now quite crowded?
Where Americans spend the most money
The rise of fast-casual dining in the 21st century has served to obscured the distinction between "fast food" and sit-down restaurants. What makes a restaurant "fast food" is a "focus on value and speed rather than quality," said Food Republic. The competing fast-casual model pioneered in the 1990s by Chipotle features "higher-quality, freshly prepared food," which is simply served at a "at a faster pace than sit-down restaurants," typically without a wait staff, said Tasting Table.
For decades the whole concept of fast food was inexorably tied to the burger-and-milkshake chain McDonald's, which was founded in 1948 by brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Their chief innovation was that rather than "cooking each meal to order, they prepared their burgers ahead of time and kept the food warm under high-powered heat lamps," said The Street. The rest is history.
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While McDonald's no longer has the most locations in the U.S. — that distinction now belongs to Subway and its more than 20,000 shops — the golden archesit still outpaces all other fast food chains in revenue by a country mile, according to QSR Magazine. That's in spite of a modest revenue decline in 2024. That year, the company still had almost double the revenue of second-place Starbucks. Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell and Wendy's rounded out the top five in sales. But raw volume can mask inefficiency. By a statistic called Average Unit Volume (AUV), which measures "average annual sales that a brand earns per restaurant," Chick-fil-A is the runaway leader, with $6.7 million in sales per restaurant in 2023, said The Food Institute. By that measure, Subway lags behind, with an AUV of just $490,000, which "remains low compared with its rivals and other sandwich concepts," said Restaurant Business.
Brands Americans rank highest
Revenue is one thing; perception is another. Chick-fil-A topped the American Customer Satisfaction Index in both 2023 and 2024, while McDonald's was dead last. Meanwhile, USA Today readers ranked California-based Mexican chain Del Taco the best in the country. They loved not just the burritos but also the crinkle fries, whose "shape holds salt and crispiness, which really helps if you order them covered in chili, queso or carne asada," said USA Today. Del Taco ranked 35th in the country in revenue, at 600 locations. KFC, Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out Burger and Hardee's completed USA Today's reader-chosen top 5.
"If you don't live in the Midwest, it's likely you've never even heard of" the burger chain Culver's, said Fodor's, which ranked the restaurant the top fast food option in the country, followed by Shake Shack, In-N-Out, Whataburger and Raising Cane's, a southern chain whose stores "sling out the best-battered chicken strips in America's fast food industry." But not everyone thinks Raising Cane's even offers the best fast food fried chicken in the States. Philippines-based Jollibee's "Chickenjoy," which is "satisfyingly light, flavorful in a 'tastes like chicken' sort of way, and supremely moist," said Eater.
Another list was created "according to our personal opinions, in addition to recent reviews and comments from across the web, particularly Reddit," said The Daily Meal, which ranked Checkers (also known as Rally's in the Midwest) first. The chain's menu offers a "cornucopia of classic staples" highlighted by its "trademark seasoned french fries," which were "virtually impossible to resist as they sit in the bag on the car ride home." Culver's was second on that list.
