Top 5 Fastest-Growing Restaurant Chains Revealed

No Comments | Written on July 26, 2012 at 5:00 pm, by The Editors

Raising Cane's

Once upon a time, Applebee’s probably was just one neighborhood’s neighborhood grille, then seemingly overnight, it became every neighborhood’s neighborhood grille.

Restaurants come, and restaurants go. The American landscape is now littered with the husks of what were once thriving chains now relegated to distant memory (trivia points if you can name one item that was on the menu of Chi-Chi’s, Sambo’s or Brown Derby).

But that’s the past. If you want a look at the future, look no further than Nation’s Restaurant News and it’s annual ranking of the top 200 restaurant chains in the country. Of particular note: those that have yet to emerge from the bottom 100, but are growing at breakneck speed.

Here’s the list of the top 5 fastest-growing chains for 2012:

1. Yard House

casual dining; sales growth: 23.25%

2. Raising Cain’s Chicken Fingers

fast-food chicken; sales growth: 20.27%

3. Jersey Mike’s Subs

fast-food sandwiches; sales growth: 16.65%

4. Dickey’s Barbecue Pit

fast-food barbecue; sales growth: 14.74%

5. The Capital Grille

casual dining; sales growth: 14.44%