McDonald's Tops List of Restaurant Chains

According to a new survey, McDonald's is the No. 1 fast-food eatery across the nation. Also in the top ten are Domino's, Taco Bell, and Chick-fil-A.

Conducted by price-tracking website PriceListo, the study looked at average search volume data from Google to see which restaurants Americans are searching for the most, finding McDonald's to be No. 1 with 22.9 million monthly searches. More than 250 chains were assessed and ranked. The study comes at a time when 65% of respondents report that they eat some form of fast food at least once a week.

#1 McDonald's 

Since its opening in 1954, McDonald's has opened more 36,000 restaurants worldwide and currently has 13,500 of these in America. This is more than the number of hospitals (10,660) in the country.

#2 Domino's Pizza 

Coming in second place is Domino's Pizza with 15.8 million searches per month. According to the company, there are more than 34 million ways to customize a pizza. At the end of last year, there were 6,856 stores in the U.S.

#3 Chick-fil-A 

Chick-fil-A ranks as third most popular, amassing 15.4 million monthly searches for its restaurants. As of 2023, there were 3,059 restaurants across 48 states, and the company is looking to open across the water in the United Kingdom next year.

#4 Taco Bell 

With 12.1 million monthly searches, Taco Bell comes in fourth place. The restaurant, famed for its Mexican cuisine, has 7,936 stores across the country with California alone having 11% (882) of these.

#5 Pizza Hut 

Pizza Hut comes in with 10 million monthly searches. The chain, which first opened in 1958, has 19,866 restaurants globally with 6,805 of these being in the U.S.

#6 Chipotle 

Chipotle had 9.8 million searches. Chipotle has been a staple in Mexican cuisine for more than three decades and is currently valued at $16.2 billion. The company has restaurants in seven different countries and has 3,437 locations globally as of last December.

#7 Subway 

The second largest fast-food chain in the world, Subway places seventh most popular, citing 8.4 million average monthly searches. The chain started its domination of America when entrepreneur Fred DeLuca borrowed money off a friend to start the business in 1965. Globally, there are more than 37,000 locations with 58% of these located within America.

#8 Burger King 

The eighth most popular chain turns out to be Burger King, which averages 7.7 million Google searchers per month. Worldwide, the chain has 19,739 locations and is valued at $7.13 billion presently. Each year, Burger King sells over 2.1 billion of its best-selling item, the Whopper.

#9 Wendy's 

Founded in Ohio in 1969, Wendy's amassed 6.8 million monthly searches, making it the ninth most popular chain on the list. Globally, the brand has 7,166 units and was the first chain to offer a value menu.

#10 Texas Roadhouse 

Rounding off the list is Texas Roadhouse. The restaurant chain has 6.7 million monthly searches and 627 locations across the nation. There are 29 international sites in ten different counties. On average, the stores sell 300,000 meals a day, and their best seller is the six-ounce choice sirloin.

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