Top Full-Service Restaurant Franchises Over 50 Units

Full-service restaurant franchises are a lucrative segment of the restaurant industry because of their ability to provide customers the best of both worlds: a sit-down experience comparable to an independent restaurant but with greater menu variety and lower price point. Particularly ideal for families and large groups in search of a more formal atmosphere than a quick-service chain, these are the restaurant franchises that have best refined their offering to capitalize on the strong market potential.

Denny’s

Unit Count: more than 1,700 restaurants around the world

Investment range: $915,568-$2,421,184
In business for more than 60 years, Denny’s has cornered the diner market. The 24/7 full-service restaurant is known for its diverse menu no matter the hour, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner fare at all times. This versatility is what has propelled the brand to national recognition since its inception in 1966. Staple meal deals like the Grand Slam Breakfast (established in 1977) offer customers great value on top of convenience, leading to sustained popularity and traffic. Denny’s has recently refocused its marketing efforts toward younger generations and added delivery service to its offering.

Beef O’Brady’s*

Unit count: More than 170 locations in 23 states

Investment range: $806,600-$1,288,125

Beef O’Brady’s is a family sports pub franchise that focuses on high-quality, affordable menu offerings and a neighborly environment for customers to enjoy the game. The brand appeals to families by including 40-plus TVs, a kids game room, and a full bar at every location. In addition to a kids’ menu, Beef O’Brady’s has chicken wings, burgers, pizza, flatbreads and other fan favorites, all at a great price. The franchise promotes a community setting by getting all locations involved with local youth and adult sports leagues and other neighborhood organizations. The brand supports an owner-operator franchise unit owner model to ensure operational consistency standards are met.

Famous Dave's*

Unit count: Over 150 locations in 32 states and 3 countries

Investment range: $636,750-$4,239,750

Famous Dave’s namesake traversed the country, taste-testing the best it had to offer and honing his craft over a 25-year span before taking the plunge and opening the brand’s flagship restaurant in Wisconsin in 1994. Dave Anderson’s devotion to his sauce recipes and smoking techniques led the brand on an award-winning ascent to dominance in the full-service restaurant segment. Famous Dave’s smokes meat on-site at every location, its menu offering a variety of barbeque staples like ribs, brisket, pork and chicken, plus sides and dessert that bring together tastes and styles from across America. The brand is adding to its offerings and giving units makeovers in a revamp designed to spark revenue growth.

The Brass Tap**

Unit count: 50 locations in 16 states

Investment range: $791,967-$1,327,475

The Brass Tap keeps the local feel to all of its franchises by offering extensive regional craft beer options that are specific to each unit location. The drink menu is filled out with hand-crafted cocktails and a robust wine list that can be enjoyed with upscale appetizers. The Tampa, Florida-based brand promotes a social environment by hosting live music, trivia, beer tastings and organizing events arounds sports. While the Brass Tap brand provides franchisees with a scalable model, individual locations give off the neighborhood watering hole feel thanks to predominantly localized offerings and loyalty programs.

Buffalo Wild Wings*

Unit count: More than 1,200 locations in 10 countries

Investment range: $1,997,700-$3,750,700

Founded by two friends who moved out of Buffalo, New York but were still craving the city’s most famous dish, Buffalo Wild Wings was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1982. The brand’s straightforward offering delivered in their slogan, ‘Wings, Beer, Sports,’ embodies the carefree, enjoyable atmosphere for which it is known. Beyond its namesake offering of bone-in or boneless wings with more than 20 signature sauces, the menu at Buffalo Wild Wings features burgers, sandwiches, salads and more to appeal to a wider demographic than just appetizer-eating sports fans. SInce the company began franchising in 1991, it has expanded beyond U.S. borders into 10 other countries.

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit

Unit count: 550 locations across the U.S.

Investment range: $280,819-$481,819

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit arrived on the scene in Dallas, Texas back in 1941 and quickly took off. The brand existed for a whole 50 years before it began franchising, letting word of mouth marinate before expanding nationwide. Now the largest barbecue chain in the U.S., Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is in great standing in the full-service restaurant segment. The brand boasts six potential revenue streams to its potential franchisees: dine-in, catering, retail, holiday meals, online ordering and outside delivery. That coupled with a simple offering of slow-smoked meats and hearty sides has led to the brand more than doubling its unit numbers since 2012, and the recent hiring of a new VP signals no intention of slowing down.

Buffalo Wings & Rings*

Unit count: More than 80 global locations

Investment range: $1,280,000-$2,412,000

Cincinnati-based Buffalo Wings & Rings is a sports restaurant franchise in accelerated growth mode. Established in 1984 and franchising since 1988, the brand’s focus on raising the bar in both food and experience at a great value is executed with diverse menu offerings beyond its signature never-frozen wings that regularly include seasonal and limited-time options. Unit layouts are open floor plans that are packed with TVs, creating an atmosphere that separates it from other sports restaurants, one the brand bills as the ideal scene for customers to take in sporting events with a group.

Johnny Rockets

Unit count: More than 380 locations worldwide

Investment range: $605,500-$1,144,000

Billing itself as the ‘Classic All-American Experience,’ burgers, shakes and fries have been the standard at Johnny Rockets since its founding in 1986. Over time, the full-service burger restaurant’s menu became geared more toward a gourmet burger offering and expanded to include sandwiches and salads, but the all-American theme and environment remains consistent across all franchise locations. While the brand’s number of U.S. franchises has stayed relatively stable over the past five years, its international unit count has continued to grow, evident in the success of Johnny Rockets locations in places like China, Nigeria, and Peru.

Golden Corral

Unit count: 450-plus units across the U.S.

Investment range: $2,168,419-$6,602,513

Customers that prioritize variety over all else need look no further than Golden Corral, famous for its buffet of more than 150 options. Founded in 1973 and franchising since 1987, the brand began as a cheap alternative to traditional steakhouses and eventually developed into the breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything-in-between buffet chain of present day due to demand. Specialties include a full bakery section and carving station manned by in-house butchers, plus USDA-certified, never-frozen beef. Though Golden Corral’s unit count has stayed constant in recent years, the brand pulled in $1.75 billion in system-wide sales in 2017.

Chili’s

Unit count: More than 1,600 domestic and international locations

Investment range: $1,235,000-$4,267,000

Chili’s is a popular full-service restaurant owned by Brinker International that opened its first location in a converted post office in Dallas in 1975. The brand now operates in 32 countries serving distinctly American fare with a Southwest spin. The menu at Chili’s is dense, consisting of burgers, fajitas, and of course, baby back ribs that single-handedly elevated the brand to national prominence thanks to a memorable marketing campaign. The brand is embarking on expansion into Asia and elevating its service offering with digital ordering and curbside pickup to bolster revenue.

*Brands marked with an asterisk are clients of 1851 Franchise or No Limit Agency*.