Technomic: Largest restaurant chains to accelerate unit, sales growth

The biggest players in the restaurant industry are expected to accelerate their unit growth numbers in 2014, led once again by fast-casual brands and with certain segments predicted to take off, including Asian, seafood and steak, according to Chicago-based Technomic. The Chicago-based market research firm found in a preliminary excerpt of its annual “Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report” that the 500 largest restaurant brands are expected to increase their collective unit count by 2.3 percent in 2014, compared with a year earlier. That rate represents a slight uptick from the 2.1-percent growth rate from 2012 to 2013 and a major acceleration over the 0.5-percent rise from 2008 to 2009. In the full-service restaurant category, Asian restaurants are projected to increase their locations by 5.1 percent this year, followed by seafood concepts at 3.9 percent and steakhouses at 3.4 percent, Technomic found. Asian and noodle concepts are also expected to lead unit growth in the limited-service segment, which encompasses both quick service and fast casual, at a forecasted 8 percent. Bakery-cafes and coffeehouses are expected to grow their unit counts by 5.2 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. “Unit growth will continue to rise in both the full- and limited-service segments,” Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, said in a statement. “Fast-casual concepts still show high levels of unit growth, as do limited- and full-service Asian concepts.” In the limited-service sector, sales are expected to rise 3.5 percent for the year, Technomic found. Within that increase, fast-causal chains are expected to lead the way with a 10.8-percent increase, compared with a projected 2.3-percent gain at quick-service chains. The full-service segment is projected to increase sales by 2.5 percent in 2014, about the same as its 2.4-percent sales growth rate in 2013. Once again, fine-dining restaurants will grow their sales more quickly than other kinds of restaurants in the segment, with a 5.8-percent increase expected. Midscale and family-dining chains, by contrast, are expected to grow sales by about 0.5 percent, while casual-dining brands are projected to increase sales by 2.8 percent. Several brands stood out on Technomic’s report for adding a robust number of locations this year, including Buffalo Wild Wings with 65 openings, Mellow Mushroom with 32 openings and LongHorn Steakhouse with 24 openings in the full-service sector. In the limited-service segment, Subway, Starbucks Coffee, Jimmy John’s and Dunkin’ Donuts stood out with 908, 443, 350 and 291 new units, respectively.