QSRs are still takeout's titans

The folks who pioneered the idea of preparing food to go still hold a firm grip on the takeout industry, representing 66 notches ? two-thirds ? of the entrants on this year's Top 100. And from number-one McDonald's to number-100 Mrs. Winner's Chicken and Biscuits, quick-service restaurants show no sign of giving up their supremacy.

Among the top 50 QSRs, 12 hamburger chains with combined estimated takeout sales of $24 billion in 1998 ? and average carryout-sales-per unit of $709,000 ? lead the list of players, followed by 11 Italian or pizza concepts with combined takeout sales of $8.5 billion, and seven each of chicken-menu restaurants ($5.3 billion) and bakery/coffee-shop concepts ($3.1 billion).

The QSR segment's maturity explains its consistent, rather than explosive, year-to-year growth in takeout. For the top 50 as a whole, carryout sales increased by 7 percent, from $48.7 billion in 1997 to $52.1 billion in 1998. In terms of the average amount of takeout business done by the top 50, the share remains unchanged at about 65 percent.

Among individual menu concepts, however, the 1997?98 changes vary dramatically: The bakery/coffee-shop segment increased carryout by an impressive 18.5 percent, followed by hamburger chains at 8.9 percent. At the other end were seafood restaurants, showing an 0.2-percent reduction in takeout, and dessert concepts, down 15.9 percent.