While McDonald's has long been the dominant force, the Chinese ice cream chain Mixue Ice Cream & Tea has recently become the world's largest fast-food chain by number of locations, with over 45,000 stores, surpassing McDonald's (around 41,000) and Starbucks (over 40,000) as of 2024/2025 data.
What person owns the most restaurants in the world?
Gordon Ramsay is number one with 92 restaurants
Perhaps that's because of the seemingly endless ideas Ramsay has for destinations. It's definitely because of the chef's star power, too — fans of his television shows line up to experience his dishes for themselves on city streets, in airports, and in casinos.
KFC's brand is ranked #130 in the list of Global Top 1000 Brands, as rated by customers of KFC. Their current valuation is $32.95B. McDonald's's brand is ranked #85 in the list of Global Top 100 Brands, as rated by customers of McDonald's. Their current valuation is $167.91B.
The largest restaurant companies worldwide are primarily international chains. McDonald's and Starbucks are the two largest restaurant companies as of November 2025. Domino's Pizza is the largest pizza chain by market cap.
How a Legendary Chef Runs One of the World's Most Iconic Restaurants — Mise En Place
Who is the wealthiest restaurant owner?
He buys STRUGGLING restaurants with huge potential, turns them around, and makes BILLIONS. That's how Tilman Fertitta built his empire of over 600 restaurants, including turning a $30M investment (Landry's) into a $1B+ powerhouse.
No, McDonald's is significantly bigger than Burger King globally and in the U.S., with far more locations, higher sales (especially in the U.S.), and greater market capitalization, though both are major global players in the hamburger fast-food market. McDonald's consistently leads in number of stores and revenue, while Burger King typically ranks as the second-largest burger chain.
The "number 1 restaurant in the world" changes annually based on different lists, but for 2025, Maido in Lima, Peru, was named the World's Best by The World's 50 Best Restaurants. For 2024, it was Disfrutar in Barcelona, Spain, known for innovative Spanish cuisine, while previous years saw restaurants like Central and Noma take the top spot.
With over 34,000 restaurants … Subway outpaces every single brand chain – including McDoanld's and only trails Yum! Brands --- who own Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.
Most historians agree that the American company White Castle was the first fast-food outlet, starting in Wichita, Kansas in 1916 with food stands and founding in 1921, selling hamburgers for five cents apiece from its inception and spawning numerous competitors and emulators.
It is alleged that as part of the buyout Kroc promised, based on a handshake agreement, to continue the annual 1% royalty of the original agreement, but there is no evidence of this beyond a claim by a nephew of the McDonald brothers.
Investing $1,000 in Amazon's 1997 IPO would have made you incredibly wealthy, with the initial investment growing to millions of dollars today, despite surviving the dot-com crash by holding through massive drops and benefiting from multiple stock splits (including a 20-for-1 split in 2022). The exact figure varies slightly depending on the source's share price date, but it's a legendary example of long-term, high-risk, high-reward investing, transforming a small book-seller stake into a tech giant's worth.
Chick-Fil-A is the current market leader, with an accuracy rate of 92% averaged over the past six years, the data shows. Burger King and McDonald's are tied for second at 88%. Arby's is a bit further behind in fourth place. As for the other end of the spectrum, KFC holds the lowest six-year average at just 81%.
It is good news because yes, you can reheat KFC. If you realise that you have way too much chicken in your bucket, simply put it in a container and store it in your fridge. As long as your takeaway is stored the right way, it is safe to reheat it the next day.
First Place. Chick-fil-A won a blue ribbon for being the cleanest fast-food restaurant in America. While the chain came neck-in-neck with the second-place restaurant for interior cleanness (at 68.6%), it jumped ahead thanks to higher marks for food prep and kitchen sparkle (66.5%).
McDonald's. McDonald's maintains its position as the world's most profitable fast food chain, with McDonald's revenue for the twelve months ending June 30, 2025, at $26.060 billion, a 1.18% increase year-over-year .
But does the American company really give bigger portions to its American customers? Surprisingly, this is true — McDonald's portion sizes are larger in the U.S. than those in Europe (in some cases, significantly so).
