The Biggest Burger Chains in the U.S.

Americans eat more than 50 billion burgers per year, mostly at these restaurants.

The Biggest Burger Chains in the U.S.

Americans eat about 50 billion burgers per year. Put another way, that’s three burgers per week for every man, woman and child. Put still another way, that’s about 153 burgers per year, per person. And put another way, that’s a lot of burgers. And while the burger is perhaps the most distinctly American food, its reach is now global with major U.S. chains easily found around the world.

Okay, so technically the Germans invented the burger, but it was Americans who perfected it and, later, mass produced it. Today, burgers account for 40 percent of all sandwiches sold, from the bite size burgers sold at the nation’s oldest burger chain (White Castle), to the mass-produced and massively profitable versions churned out by the billions (McDonald’s).

The food industry trade journal QSR rates the biggest fast food chains every year. We broke out 16 chains that make their money on burgers, ranked them by U.S. sales for 2017, then took a deeper dive to figure out the underpinnings of their success. The top three offer no surprises, but tread deeper into the list and you're likely to find innovative upstarts and maybe even a burger chain you haven’t heard of....yet.

16. Shake Shack

U.S. sales: $358.8 million

Year founded: 2001

First location: New York City

Signature burger: ShackBurger

The newest of the chains on this list, Shake Shack was originally a hot dog stand that was part of a 2001 art installation in New York’s Madison Square Park. Upscale restaurant owner Danny Meyer ran the hot dog stand, staffing it with off-season coat check workers from his other — and fancier — restaurants. The success of the temporary restaurant was so encouraging that Meyer asked the city for a permanent business permit for the location.

Meyer, a St. Louis native, based the menu on the burger stands he had loved before moving to New York. He claims to have come up with the menu in “exactly nine minutes” on a napkin, which still hangs in current CEO Randy Garutti's office. One thing that wasn’t on that original menu? Bacon. Shake Shack was in business for eight years before it finally put bacon as a burger option on its menu.

15. White Castle

U.S. sales: $548 million

Year founded: 1921

First location: Wichita, Kansas

Signature burger: The Original Slider

White Castle lays claim to being the oldest burger chain. Legend has it that founder Walt Anderson came up with the concept for the mini-burgers the chain is famous for while working as a short-order cook. He grew frustrated with meatballs that were sticking to the griddle and smashed one in anger with his spatula.

When White Castle opened, burgers had a bad rap in America. Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” and its expose of a meat-processing facility had turned people off hamburgers. Knowing this, Anderson came up with the name by combining two words in hopes of conveying purity and solidity.

14. In-N-Out Burger

U.S. sales: $647 million

Year founded: 1948

First location: Baldwin Park, California

Signature burger: Double-Double

A chain that only West Coasters get to enjoy. Harry and Esther Snyder were newlyweds when they launched In-N-Out as California’s first drive-thru hamburger stand. The chain disputes Jack in the Box’s claim to having been the first to use the two-way intercom system to make the drive through more efficient, claiming Harry Snyder had the idea first.

With a secret menu and Bible verses printed in tiny print on the bottom of its soda cups, In-N-Out has attracted a devoted and star-studded following. Sammy Hagar told the restaurant’s historian that Van Halen ate there “three times a week” while they were working on “5150,” and Paris Hilton explained a 2006 DUI by saying "I was just really hungry and I wanted to have an In-N-Out burger!" The highest celebrity praise, however, may have come from Julia Child, who once told Larry King that she kept a list of their locations in her purse.

13. Checkers/Rally's

U.S. sales: $844 million

Year founded: 1985 (Rally’s), 1986 (Checkers), 1999 (merged company)

First location: Louisville, Kentucky (Rally’s); Mobile, Alabama (Checkers)

Signature burgers: Rallyburger, Checkerburger

Checkers was primarily found in the southeast United States, and Rally's was primarily found in the Midwest. The two brands merged in 1999 and today offer similar menus despite the different branding of the stores. Checker's founder Jim Mattei started his fast food career at Wendy's, but when he decided to start his own burger joint, he did something that was unheard of at the time in the industry: Burgers would be made to order instead of using the pre-made slabs his competitors used.

The current CEO Rick Silva got his start in fast food at Burger King, and may be known to viewers of the program “Undercover Boss.” That appearance, Silva has said, was the equivalent of $20 million in advertising for the brands. The chain has refused to post calorie counts in states where it is not mandated by law, and Silva has famously said "If you want a salad, go somewhere else."

12. Steak ‘n Shake

U.S. sales: $940 million

Year founded: 1934

First location: Normal, Illinois

Signature burger: Steakburger

During the Great Depression, Gus and Edith Belt needed to find a way to supplement the lagging revenue from the Shell station they owned in Normal, Illinois. They started selling fried chicken dinners for 45 cents and beer for nine cents. From that simple beginning was born Steak ‘n Shake.

Burgers were added to the menu when the gas station gave way to a full-fledge restaurant. When the place was crowded, Belt was known to entertain guests by rolling a barrel of meat into the dining room and demonstrating how he ground T-bones, sirloin and top round into Steak ‘n Shake’s signature burgers.

11. Culver’s

U.S. sales: $1.40 billion

Year founded: 1984

First location: Sauk City, Wisconsin

Signature burger: ButterBurger

In addition to its frozen custard, this Wisconsin-based chain is known for its “ButterBurgers.” The family-owned company developed a menu paying homage to Wisconsin’s dairy farming culture. Hence, lots of cheese and lots of butter on the burger.

But Culver’s also owes a hat tip to McDonald’s. Co-founder Craig Culver swore he would never work in the food industry after spending his childhood working in other restaurants the family owned. But his biology degree didn’t land him a job after he graduated from college, so he took a job as an assistant manager at McDonald’s. From there, he convinced his parents to back his plan to launch Culver’s.

The ButterBurger idea came from a defunct Milwaukee restaurant called the Milky Way. A friend told Craig Culver about the burger, and Culver spent weeks experimenting with the idea it the kitchen of the original Culver’s.

10. Five Guys

U.S. sales: $1.43 billion

Year founded: 1986

First location: Arlington, Virginia

Signature burger: Just a straight-up hamburger

Started by four brothers and their parents (dad was the fifth guy, at least for awhile), Five Guys prides itself as a build-to-order burger company that refuses to deliver or advertise. Jerry Murrell used the $70,000 college fund he had set up for the four brothers to start the family-run restaurant.

"They weren't scholars ... I always liked having my kids around me, so I thought that was a good way to do it,” Murrell has said. He still serves as CEO.

A year after the first store opened, a fifth son was born. Jerry Murrell has maintained the Five Guys in the name refers to his five sons ever since youngest son Tyler came along.

9. Carl's Jr.

U.S. sales: $1.5 billion

Year founded: 1941

First location: Los Angeles

Signature burger: Famous Star

Carl's Jr. started as a Los Angeles hot dog cart owned by Carl and Margaret Karcher. Carl Karcher was a bread truck driver who invested his $15 in savings to get into the then red-hot hot dog cart business. They eventually expanded to a full-service, sit down restaurant; the Jr. was added later to limited-service versions of the sit down restaurant the couple opened and served as the predecessors to the fast food chain we know today.

Forays into coffee shops and Mexican food failed for Carl’s Jr., but there was an unusual success story from the founder’s relentless innovation streak: wine. In 2006, Carl's Jr. and the Palms Casino partnered to offer the Combo Meal at the Las Vegas casino. The meal included a Carl's Jr. Six Dollar Burger, fries and a $6,000 bottle of French Bordeaux. The chain later partnered with Wally's Wine & Spirits to come up with a list of wine pairings for its burgers.

8. Hardee's

U.S. sales: $2.2 billion

Year founded: 1960

First location: Greenville, North Carolina

Signature burger: Thickburger

For our purposes, we’re separating Hardee’s and its sibling, Carl’s Jr. While they have the same parent company, they are run as separate chains with Hardee’s having been founded in Greenville in 1960 by Wilbur Hardee. Hardees grew to the fourth largest fast food chain by the mid-1990s, expanding in the south and Midwest and targeting towns where there was not already a McDonald’s or Burger King.

In 2004, when fast food chains were under pressure to offer healthier fare, Hardee’s bucked the trend and came up with the Monster Thickburger, a burger that had 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat.

"This is a burger for young hungry guys who want a really big, delicious, juicy, decadent burger," then Chief Executive Andrew Puzder told CNBC. "I hope our competitors keep promoting those healthy products, and we will keep promoting our big, juicy delicious burgers."

7. Whataburger

U.S. sales: $2.3 billion

Year founded: 1950

First location: Corpus Christi, Texas

Signature burger: Whataburger

Not to be confused with the What-A-Burger chain in the Carolinas, Whataburger's (one word, no hyphens) menu has expanded in much the same way of national rivals, with chicken and taquitos added. But when Harmon Dobson opened the first Whataburger, he had but one stated goal: to serve a burger so big that you had to use two hands to eat it.

Today, Whataburger boasts 36,864 ways you can order its burger. You can try them all if you eat three a day for the next 33 years. There’s also a conspiracy theory about the numbers 1 through 5 stamped on its ketchup packets, which the company says are strictly for quality control. Despite Whataburger’s assertion that there is no difference, fans insist the lower the number, the more vinegar in the ketchup. The ketchup packets have their own Facebook page with more than 20,000 likes.

6. Jack in the Box

U.S. sales: $3.5 billion

Year founded: 1951

First location: San Diego, California

Signature burger: Classic Buttery Jack

Jack in the Box started selling burgers for 18 cents apiece from its original location in San Diego. While it experimented with East Coast expansion in the 1970s, it is still almost exclusively a West Coast burger chain. When it was introduced in 1971, the Jumbo Jack was one of the biggest burgers sold in the fast food industry. That spawned copy cats at other chains, most notably the Big Mac.

But founder Robert O. Peterson's biggest contribution to the popularity of burgers was pioneering the drive-through window. He didn’t invent it, but he was the first to come up with the two-way intercom system, which made the drive-through efficient. Other chains quickly copied the model, making it a fast food-industry staple.

5. Dairy Queen

U.S. sales: $3.6 billion

Year founded: 1940

First location: Joliet, Illinois

Signature burger: GrillBurger

Known primarily for its soft serve ice-cream, Dairy Queen has long tried to get a foothold as a fast food place as well. In the 1950s it started affixing “Brazier Burger” signs to its stores that sold burgers and hot dogs in addition to ice cream. While that marketing concept was phased out in 1993, many older stores still carry the Brazier logo.

To make matters even more confusing, you can get hot dogs, barbecue beef or pork sandwiches, and in some cases french fries and chicken, at DQ stores with the “Limited Brazier” designation, but not hamburgers.

4. Sonic Drive-In

Estimated annual revenue: $4.4 billion

U.S. sales: 1953

First location: Shawnee, Oklahoma

Signature burger: Sonic Cheeseburger

Sonic started out as a root beer stand. When Troy Smith saw the success of the car-to-kitchen intercom system, he ditched interest in his other restaurants, including diners and steakhouses. The company's emphasis on burgers, however, can be traced back to an unusual provision in its first franchisee agreement. Instead of collecting a flat fee, Smith was paid one cent for every logo-stamped paper hamburger bag that was used.

Today, Sonic has more than 3,500 locations in 45 states and serves 3 million customers per day. And while burgers may have laid the foundation for the chain’s success, today it says its fountain drink system and its more than 1 million drink combinations is the best-selling menu item.

3. Wendy’s

U.S. sales: $9.3 billion

Year founded: 1969

First location: Columbus, Ohio

Signature burger: Dave’s Single

Founded by high school dropout Dave Thomas, Wendy's is famously named for his daughter. Whose name was … Melinda. Family legend has it Melinda could not pronounce R's and L's, so she started referring to herself as Wenda — toddler talk for Wendy. And yes, that really is her likeness in the company's logo.

Thomas got his start in fast food working for Col. Sanders — yes, that Col. Sanders — and is credited with turning around stores with slumping sales by coming up with a gimmick to sell chicken pieces in a paper bucket. He made $1.5 million, which he turned into the seed money for his own chain, which long ago passed KFC on the list of biggest fast food chains.

2. Burger King

U.S. sales: $10 billion

Year founded: 1953

First location: Jacksonville, Florida

Signature burger: The Whopper

Burger King was originally known as InstaBurger King when it was founded. And while its revenue is a mere pittance when compared to its bigger rival, it is still the seventh biggest fast food chain in the world. George Lucas, Jay Leno, Jennifer Hudson and Robert Downey Jr. are all reportedly holders of the Burger King Crown Card, which entitles them to unlimited burgers and fries for life.

Feeling adventurous? Order the Suicide Burger from Burger King’s “secret menu.” It has four patties, four slices of cheese, bacon and special sauce — as well as 2,500 mg of sodium and 175 mg of cholesterol.

1. McDonald’s

U.S. sales: $37.6 billion

Year founded: 1955

First location: San Bernardino, California

Signature burger: Big Mac

Combine the next nine most popular burger joints on our list into one company, and they still wouldn’t sell as many burgers in a year as McDonald’s. McDonald’s claims that it sells 75 burgers every single second of every single minute of every single day. Of the 22 sandwiches that regularly rotate onto the McDonald’s menu, 14 are burgers (or, increasingly, double burgers).

Last year, in an effort to keep up with consumer trends, the company announced that its seven burgers — hamburger, cheeseburger, McDouble, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, double Quarter Pounder with cheese and Big Mac — would no longer contain artificial preservatives, flavors and colors. But don’t get too excited: The pickles still contains an artificial preservative.