Emerging Restaurant Franchises Drive Industry Growth as Largest Brands Stall

Restaurant franchise growth continued in 2026, but the industry's biggest brands are no longer driving expansion. A recent analysis published by RestaurantNews.com, based on RestaurantData's review of approximately 250 Franchise Disclosure Documents, found that many emerging restaurant concepts are growing considerably faster than the nation's largest franchise systems.

RestaurantData examined 173 restaurant franchise brands with at least 50 year-end locations, using standardized location counts reported in FDDs to compare one-year and two-year growth. Because every franchisor reports these figures using the same format, FDDs provide one of the clearest ways to measure long-term expansion across competing restaurant systems.

The numbers show that restaurant franchise growth has not disappeared, though much of it is now coming from younger and mid-sized brands. The Top 100 restaurant franchisors increased their combined unit count by just over 1% year over year and about 2% across the full two-year period. Meanwhile, the industry’s ten largest brands recorded a slight net decline in locations, a sign that mature systems are finding it more difficult to maintain the pace of earlier expansion.

By contrast, smaller restaurant franchises continued to add units at a much stronger pace. The smallest quarter of franchise systems analyzed expanded by roughly 14% over two years, while the 50 smallest brands in the study grew nearly 10%. The 50 largest franchisors increased their unit counts by just over 1% during the same period.

Several restaurant concepts stood out for their rapid expansion. Crumbl led the rankings after nearly tripling its footprint over the two-year period. Other brands posting strong growth included Scooter's Coffee, Playa Bowls, BIGGBY® COFFEE, Kung Fu Tea, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Jersey Mike's, Wingstop and Charleys Philly Steaks.

Several established brands finished the period with fewer restaurants, but large-scale pullbacks were not common. Only a small number of franchise systems saw their unit counts fall by more than 10%, which points to an industry that is still holding fairly steady even as more growth comes from smaller concepts.

For franchise investors, suppliers and development professionals, the data underscore an important trend: the strongest percentage growth is increasingly coming from emerging brands rather than the industry's largest restaurant chains. Established systems continue to dominate overall unit counts, but many of the biggest expansion opportunities are now being created by concepts still climbing the franchise rankings.

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