Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen

2016 Top 500 restaurant chains

More than half of the restaurant industry’s $491 billion in sales come from the Top 500 chains. And these giants grew at a modestly stronger rate, both in terms of sales and store counts, than the industry overall. Restaurant Business focused on the leading 250 performers to identify trends for our first-ever special report delivering lessons from Technomic’s annual Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. This special package includes lessons for all operators from the largest chains by segment, menu category and more.

Darden buys another casual-dining growth brand

For $780 million in cash, the parent of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse will add a growth chain with familiar management.

McDonald’s revealed last month that it’s a full year ahead of schedule in selling 4,000 company-run restaurants to franchisees, a key turnaround objective it now intends to hit by the end of 2017. The...

Overall, the varied menu category is flat, up .3% in sales to $23.9 billion and .5% in units to 7,792.

The chain rebranded in 2015 to further promote its affordable, made-from-scratch fare

Darden completed its purchase of the chain this May for $780 million

When it comes to restaurant brands, the sales leaders are not always consumers’ favorites for a variety of reasons. Chains best at parlaying customer satisfaction into sales are hard to beat.

Citing the services’ high costs, Olive Garden owner Darden and Newk’s Eatery are cautious on the industry trend.

A “back to basics” approach helps most of Darden’s casual-dining concepts generate sales.

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