MINNEAPOLIS — According to the Monitor 200 rankings, released by the Restaurant Finance Monitor, Taco Bell, Burger King and Applebee's were the most popular concepts with multiunit franchisees. The Monitor's annual ranking of the top franchisees, sponsored by AIG Franchise Finance, tracks the top 200 restaurant franchisees in the nation by revenue.
The Monitor 200 franchisees increased their sales to $19 billion in 2005, beating an industry-wide average sales increase. The total domestic restaurant industry generated sales of nearly $330 billion in 2005 for a 4.9 sales increase over 2004, according to the National Restaurant Association, while this year's Monitor 200 companies managed a 5.2 percent growth in sales.
"During the past 10 years, the large multiunit franchisees have been growing at a much faster rate than the restaurant industry as a whole," said Paul Olson, research director of the Restaurant Finance Monitor.
Other key points in the Monitor 200 survey:
- The top 200 franchisees in the U.S. operate 15,501 restaurants;
- 61 companies in the survey generated revenue of more than $100 million;
- Franchisees needed to make $30 million in revenue to make the list in 2005.
