Quick service, low prices, and constant menu innovation will always be things consumers crave. The fast-food industry delivers in more ways than one. The early COVID-19 pandemic wasn't great for the restaurant industry as a whole, but fast-food restaurants able to offer drive-thru, curbside pickup, and delivery services held up better than their dine-in-dependent competitors.

With the pandemic receding, based on consumer behavior, fast-food restaurants can leverage the investments they made in digital and delivery to drive growth for years to come. Now, the bigger threat to companies with exposure to discretionary spending stems from a still challenging economic environment that is curtailing consumer outlay.
However, because many fast-food chains focus on offering great value, a tough economic environment poses fewer risks. If you're interested in investing in the fast-food industry, here are seven top stocks to consider:
Seven top fast-food stocks in 2025
Company | Ticker | Market Cap | Description |
---|---|---|---|
McDonald's | (NYSE:MCD) | $207.85 billion | Iconic burger chain, with $112 billion in annual system-wide sales. |
Wendy's | (NASDAQ:WEN) | $3.45 billion | More than 7,200 restaurants serve Wendy's signature square patties and never-frozen beef. |
Restaurant Brands International | (NYSE:QSR) | $22.90 billion | Operates the Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs brands. |
Domino's Pizza | (NYSE:DPZ) | $14.95 billion | The leading pizza delivery company, with more than 20,000 locations worldwide. |
Papa John's International | (NASDAQ:PZZA) | $1.52 billion | A smaller pizza chain that's still under a cloud of controversy related to its founder and former CEO. |
Yum! Brands | (NYSE:YUM) | $38.73 billion | Operates the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Habit Burger Grill brands. |
Starbucks | (NASDAQ:SBUX) | $105.38 billion | The leading global coffee chain, with more than 38,000 locations worldwide. |
1. McDonald's
1. McDonald's
The granddaddy of the fast-food industry, McDonald's has been serving its iconic burgers and fries since 1955. The company's ethos centers on consistency and value. You know what you're going to get with McDonald's, and you know you won't pay too much.
McDonald's generated $25.5 billion of revenue in 2023, with the majority coming from fees paid by franchisees. McDonald's does operate some of its own restaurants, giving it the flexibility to try new things before pushing them out to franchised locations. McDonald's generated net income of $8.5 billion in 2023, giving it profit margins that are the envy of the fast food industry.
McDonald's is focusing on digital, delivery, and drive-thru to boost sales higher in the coming years. Through its mobile app, loyalty program, and partnerships with third-party delivery companies, McDonald's aims to be a leader in delivery while making the ordering process as easy as possible for its customers.
2. Wendy's
2. Wendy's
It was a bumper 2023 for Wendy's, with same-restaurant sales soaring 4.3% and revenue rising 4.1% to $2.2 billion. Net income rose 15% to $204 million for the 12-month period. The burger chain's push into breakfast and higher franchising royalty revenues are key drivers here. About 7.5% of U.S. sales now come from Wendy's breakfast offerings, no small feat given that McDonald's is the go-to fast-food breakfast option for many commuters.
Breakfast is a big part of Wendy's growth strategy, particularly as the landscape for consumer spending shifts. Unique items such as the Frosty-ccino and the Breakfast Baconator help Wendy's stand out in a highly competitive space, and increased advertising spending is raising awareness among consumers. Other pillars of Wendy's growth strategy include boosting digital sales and ramping up new restaurant openings. Wendy's is aiming to have as many as 9,000 restaurants in operation by the end of 2025.
While McDonald's offers investors stability, Wendy's has the opportunity to grow faster as it expands its smaller restaurant base and takes a bigger bite out of breakfast.
3. Restaurant Brands International
3. Restaurant Brands International
Restaurant Brands added to its portfolio with the acquisition of Firehouse Subs in late 2021. The sandwich chain boasts more than 1,200 mostly franchised locations and about $1.1 billion in system-wide sales. Firehouse Subs is Restaurant Brands' smallest chain, but it could easily expand the brand to many thousands of locations over time. Management thinks that Firehouse could become an entirely digital quick-service restaurant brand in the U.S. and Canada by 2025.
Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes round out the Restaurant Brands stable of restaurant chains, which span burgers and fries, coffee and breakfast, fried chicken, and sandwiches. System-wide sales soared more than 12% in 2023, with total revenue surpassing $7 billion and net income totaling $1.7 billion. The potential for restaurant growth, especially among the company's smaller brands, and its robust financials, are reasons enough to consider investing in Restaurant Brands.
4. Domino's Pizza
4. Domino's Pizza
Domino's was a big winner in 2020 and most of 2021 as consumers turned to food delivery. While almost every restaurant was forced to embrace delivery to stay afloat, Domino's already had its own delivery infrastructure in place. By avoiding third-party delivery companies, the pizza chain maintained control over the customer experience and kept costs down.
Business has slowed since that time, and Domino's has embraced third-party delivery apps while maintaining its own delivery infrastructure. The company also launched a new five-year growth plan called Hungry for More in December 2023. Among numerous goals, Domino's plans to hit annual global retail sales growth of more than 7%, annual global net unit growth of more than 1,100 stores and grow its annual operating income by more than 8% by 2028.
In 2023, Domino's expanded global retail sales by 5.4% compared to the prior fiscal year, while operating income rose 6.7%. It also added 870 new stores to its global net store count in 2023.
5. Papa John's International
5. Papa John's International
Pizza chain Papa John's has long played second fiddle to the larger Domino's. Controversy over statements made by founder and former CEO John Schnatter a few years ago hurt the brand, leading to his ouster and an ongoing feud.
The pandemic, combined with a focus on premium products, helped lift Papa John's sales, but that growth has slowed somewhat. Although that could change, the company's smaller size and vast potential for restaurant growth make it an interesting fast food stock to consider.
In 2023, Papa John's achieved 208 net new store openings, and global system-wide restaurant sales rose 5% from 2022 to $5.04 billion.
6. Yum! Brands
6. Yum! Brands
With its KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Habit Burger Grill brands, there are more than 59,000 restaurants operating globally under Yum! Brands' portfolio. Like Restaurant Brands International, Yum! covers multiple categories.
Yum! is opening new locations across all its brands at a healthy pace, and sales are soaring at existing restaurants. Worldwide system sales grew 10% in 2023, with system sales from its KFC Division increasing 12%, Taco Bell at 9%, and Pizza Hut at 5%. Revenue for the 12-month period rose 3% year over year to $7.1 billion, while net income rose 21% from 2022 to $1.6 billion.
With Yum!, you get multiple leading brands in KFC and Taco Bell, a pizza chain that has room to gain ground on market leader Domino's, and a small burger chain that has plenty of room to grow. Yum! is already one of the biggest players in the fast food industry, but it still has significant long-term growth potential.
7. Starbucks
You may not think of coffee chain Starbucks as fast food, but its quick service of drinks and snacks, along with its drive-thrus in many locations, certainly puts it in the same category as more traditional fast-food companies.
Starbucks is a bit different from other fast-food chains because it doesn't franchise. Aside from some licensed locations, Starbucks operates its own stores. Even with its capital-heavy model, Starbucks has managed to open almost 38,000 locations worldwide.
The pandemic was bad news for Starbucks due to its dependence on commuters. Other challenges have persisted in recent years and driven fluctuations in revenue growth as well as profits.
Increased competition in key markets like China, pricing issues as consumers increasingly push back against costly discretionary expenditures, and shifts in the macro environment have all been factors that have affected the top and bottom lines. Still, in fiscal 2023, Starbucks saw global comparable-store sales rise 8% year over year, while earnings jumped 27%.
In August 2024, Starbucks announced that CEO Laxman Narasimhan would be departing the company effective immediately, to be replaced by Chipotle's (CMG -1.55%) long-time CEO Brian Niccol the following month.
Starbucks has gone through numerous leadership changes in recent years, but its new, renewed vision for growth could spur the business toward a brighter future. While competition for away-from-home coffee is intense, the iconic Starbucks brand and unrivaled store footprint gives it an advantage over other chains as well as local competitors.