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Subway, KFC make big gains as valuable global food brands

May 24, 2013

WPP and Millward Brown recently announced the 2013 BrandZ Top 100 list of most valuable global brands. Despite a 5 percent decrease from the prior year, McDonald's remained on top with a value of $90.3 billion.

Thanks to the staggering growth of the fast casual segment, the food category featured some newcomers this year, including Chipotle, which was No. 6 with a brand value of $4.96B and Panera at No. 8 with a brand value of $3B.

New brands weren't the only news; Burger King made an appearance on this year's list as well, at No. 9 with a value of $2.4B.

The remaining top 10 brands included:

No. 2: Starbucks, $17.9B;

No. 3: Subway, $16.7B, the biggest percentage change over 2012 (by 12 percent);

No. 4: KFC, $9.9B, also a 12 percent gain over 2012;

No. 5: Pizza Hut, $6B;

No. 7: Tim Hortons, $3.4B;

No. 10: Taco Bell, $1.2B

Apple remains the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand for 2013, worth $185 billion. Google was No. 2 with a $114B value, and IBM is at No. 3 with $112B.

Also of note this year is the rapid growth of brewers. The world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, beer, was the highest growth category in the rankings; the top 10 beer brands grew by 36 percent and are now worth a combined $63 billion. The sector has benefited from growing sales in Latin America and China. Global brewer Heineken is the third largest beer brand, worth $8 billion, and profited from publicity around the James Bond Skyfall movie. Brazil's Brahma beer grew by 61 percent in the last year and is worth $4 billion.

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, is now in its eighth year. It uses the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate its value.

Read more about trends and statistics.