The pizza restaurant trade is among the best eating sectors within the U.S., with two pizza giants rating among the many Prime 8 of all fast-food chains primarily based on places in 2025.
Domino’s had the sixth-most variety of places with 7,014, behind Subway (19,502), Starbucks (16,935), McDonald’s (13,559), Dunkin’ (9,768), and Taco Bell (7,604). Pizza Hut had the eighth most places with 6,557, behind No. 7 Burger King (6,701), in response to QSR Journal’s 2025 QSR 50 launched in August.
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Subway, 19,502
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Starbucks, 16,935
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McDonald’s, 13,559
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Dunkin’, 9,768
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Taco Bell, 7,604
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Domino’s, 7,014
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Burger King, 6,701
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Pizza Hut, 6,557
Domino’s expects to proceed its dominance and add a complete of 175 new franchise models, in response to its third quarter of 2025 earnings name.
“I feel the urge for food from franchisees continues to be very robust, which is why the pipeline visibility this 12 months, frankly, is somewhat bit higher than final 12 months on the identical time, and we’re very assured of the 175 shops we’re speaking about for this 12 months,” Domino’s Chief Monetary Officer Sandeep Reddy stated within the earnings name.
Pizza eating places have confronted extreme financial headwinds this 12 months, as a number of chains have handled fierce competitors, in addition to rising labor and meals prices and excessive lease charges requiring a number of firms to launch out-of-court restructurings, shut places, and in some instances file for chapter.
Seattle-based chain Mod Pizza had about 500 places in 2024 and closed 27 shops earlier than the corporate was bought to Chatsworth, Calif.-based Elite Restaurant Group. The corporate has continued closing places in 2025 and at the moment lists 450 shops on its web site.
Franchisees of the highest pizza chains have confronted monetary misery and filed for chapter, together with Domino’s operator Folks First Pizza Inc., which filed Chapter 11 on March 26, 2025, and Little Caesars franchisee Crimson Door Pizza LLC, which filed its petition on July 15, 2025.
Smaller pizza restaurant chains usually file for Chapter 11 chapter safety when they’re dealing with financial hardship.
Among the many small pizza chains to file for Chapter 11 chapter in 2025 had been Zeppe’s Tavern, with 13 places, on March 31, 2025; and Bertucci’s Eating places with 15 places on April 24, 2025.
A Phoenix-based pizza chain, Fired Pie, launched in 2013 and grew to twenty places by 2019 earlier than the Covid pandemic impacted the restaurant trade in 2020 and the corporate started closing shops.
