News

Chick-fil-A big winner in Technomic chain report

March 1, 2019

Technomic said this week that Chick-fil-A surpassed sales at both Wendy's and Burger King last year, elevating the chicken chain to the fifth highest spot in Technomic's 2019 Top 500 Chain Restaurant Advance Report, according to a news release. 

Technomic noted that the limited service chicken category is setting the pace when it comes to growth in the category through strong sales at brands like Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane's and Wingstop.

"Propelled by the improved performance of many of the industry's largest players, the Top 500 chains displayed resilience in 2018," Technomic Industry Research Manager Kevin Schimpf, said in the release. "Despite diminishing customer foot traffic, labor challenges and volatile operating conditions, the Top 500 chains were still able to achieve stronger sales growth in 2018 than what we observed the prior year." 

The research company's findings on the current state of the chain restaurant industry, found that cumulative 2018 U.S. sales for the top 500 brands grew to $318 billion, with the fast casual category remaining at the top of the list of fastest-growing industry segments, posting a 7.3 percent gain last year. In fact, casual dining even rebounded last year to grow 1.3 percent after dropping 0.3 percent in 2017. Technomic also found that for the top 500 restaurant chains, new location growth fell in 2018 to an overall rate of 0.7 percent.