RestaurantIndustry Analysis•March 2026Restaurant Brands International Posts 5.3% System-Wide Sales Growth as Burger King's Royal Reset Gains Traction
Wendy'sIndustry Analysis•March 2026Wendy's Project Fresh Hits a Wall: U.S. Same-Store Sales Drop 11.3% as the Turnaround StallsWendy's reported an 11.3% decline in U.S. same-restaurant sales in Q4 2025, with global systemwide sales falling 8.3% to $3.4B. Digital grew 12.4%, but is it enough?QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
2025Industry Analysis•March 2026Yum Brands Closes 2025 With a 27% Profit Surge and 4,500 New Restaurants WorldwideYum Brands posted a 27% jump in Q4 net income to $535M, opened 4,500+ new KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut locations in 2025, and hiked its dividend 6%.QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
45Industry Analysis•March 2026Why Subway Went From 45,000 Stores to 37,000 - And What Happens NextThe complete story of how the largest franchise system in history collapsed. Dollar footlongs, franchisee revolts, market saturation, and the $9.6 billion Roark Capital acquisition that inherited the mess.QSR Pro Staff•9 min read•1
2025Industry Analysis•March 2026McDonald's Q4 2025: Record Revenue, 2,600 New Restaurants Planned, and the $37 Billion Bet on GrowthMcDonald's closed 2025 with $7.01B in Q4 revenue, beating estimates by nearly 3%. With 2,600 new openings planned for 2026, the chain is racing toward 50,000 global locations.QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
RealIndustry Analysis•March 2026The Real Reason McDonald's Ice Cream Machines Are Always BrokenA $900 million lawsuit, an FTC investigation, and the story of how copyright law turned soft serve maintenance into a federal case. Inside the Taylor Company monopoly and the right-to-repair battle that followed.QSR Pro Staff•10 min read
PlantIndustry Analysis•March 2026Plant-Based Meat's Fall from Grace in Fast FoodU.S. plant-based meat sales have fallen 19% since 2023, Beyond Meat's stock collapsed below $1, and QSR chains are quietly pulling plant-based items from their menus. The once-booming alternative protein segment is in a full-blown retreat.QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
DriveIndustry Analysis•March 2026The Drive-Thru Is Being Redesigned from the Ground UpMulti-lane configurations, mobile pickup windows, AI-powered order verification, and accuracy scales are transforming the fast food drive-thru. After 75 years with essentially the same design, the industry's most important channel is getting a complete overhaul.QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
TacoIndustry Analysis•March 2026Taco Bell's Global Ambitions and the Art of Menu InnovationTaco Bell hit $1 billion in annual operating profit, announced plans to enter nine new countries, and promised to double its menu innovation in 2025. The Yum! Brands subsidiary is executing one of the most aggressive growth strategies in QSR.QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
BrianIndustry Analysis•March 2026Brian Niccol's Starbucks Rebuild: One Year of Fixing a Broken MachineBrian Niccol left Chipotle to take over Starbucks in September 2024. Eighteen months later, the former fast-casual star has delivered his first positive comparable sales quarter, announced a 1,000-store renovation plan, and outlined a strategy to turn the coffee giant around.QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
KitchenIndustry Analysis•March 2026Kitchen Robots Hit a Reality Check in Quick ServiceKernel is dead. Sweetgreen sold its robotics division. Chipotle's automated makeline is still in testing. The promise of fully automated QSR kitchens has collided with the messy realities of food production at scale.QSR Pro Staff•6 min read
Scooter'sIndustry Analysis•March 2026Scooter's Coffee: the drive-thru coffee dark horse 850 locations, $881K AUV, and 16% annual growth. Can Scooter's drive-thru kiosk model compete with Dutch Bros and Starbucks? QSR Pro Staff•6 min read