Planet Earth is a big place — and it’s covered in fast-food restaurants.
A new animated graphic is making the internet rounds this week, illustrating the fast-food wars from 1971-2019. And we must say, it is truly fascinating.
The motion graphic, made by user u/Mustafijur on the data visualization service Flourish, pulls data from WorldAtlas to examine the number of fast-food locations worldwide for the biggest fast-food chains, year by year, over nearly 50 years. We’ve watched it about a hundred times (and counting).
According to this graphic, which goes through the start of 2019, the final top 10 are as follows:
- Subway (42,431)
- McDonald’s (37,200)
- Starbucks (28,218)
- KFC (22,621)
- Pizza Hut (18,431)
- Burger King (17,796)
- Domino’s (15,008)
- Dunkin’ (12,900)
- Baskin Robbins (7,950)
- Taco Bell (7,072)
Here are four other takeaways from the unique animation.
1. KFC put up a good fight
Kentucky Fried Chicken stood atop the fast-food chain in 1971, with about 3,000 locations worldwide. KFC maintained its No. 1 spot until 1976, when McDonald’s began its exponential growth. These two chains were far and away the fast-food leaders through the late ’70s, and they really widened the gap starting in 1981.
Pizza Hut made a run at KFC for that No. 2 spot in the late 1980s, but cooled as KFC maintained the spot until 2002, when Subway surpassed it. (More on that shortly.) That’s 26 years in the No. 2 spot — pretty good!
While other chains had numerous stops and starts, KFC was the not-so-little-chain that could, with remarkably steady growth from 1971-2000. They stalled from 2000-2010, only opening 1,000 stores in that time period, but got back into the game from 2010-2019, when they opened another 11,000 locations.
2. Baskin Robbins is, uh, confusing
It’s been a long, strange ride for these 31 flavors. The ice cream vendor was ranked No. 3 in 1971 with approximately 750 locations. In 1999, the chain fell out of the top 10, with a hair more than 1,100 locations. Almost complete stasis for Baskin Robbins over those nearly 30 years. Baskin Robbins returned to the top 10 in 2010, though, with around 5,000 locations, and finished the decade with almost 8,000. Their trajectory doesn’t make much sense.
3. Subway is a juggernaut
The first Subway opened in 1965, but the chain truly began its quest for world domination in 1989. The number of Subway restaurants went from approximately 1,500 in 1989 to 6,000 in 1992. This vaulted Subway into the upper echelon of fast-food chains. Subway surged again in the new millennium, going from approximately 7,500 locations in the year 2000 to more than 32,000 in 2010. In 2002 the chain surpassed KFC for the No. 2 spot. And Subway didn’t stop there. In 2009, Subway ended McDonald’s’ 33-year run atop the fast-food pyramid, and has maintained that No. 1 ranking ever since. (McDonald’s began narrowing the gap in 2018, but hasn’t caught up yet.)
4. Starbucks really went for it
Cracking the top 10 in 1996, Starbucks took hold and never let go. In the year 2000, Starbucks had approximately 2,500 locations. By 2006, Starbucks had locked up the No. 3 spot with more than 10,000 locations. In 2014, the chain surpassed 20,000 locations, finishing with about 28,000 in 2019. When you’re fueled by caffeine, the sky’s the limit.
