The Surprise that May Await When 2018’s Largest Restaurant Chains are Ranked

A simple Google search shows that multiple media outlets have, in the past, noted that privately-held Chick-fil-A is poised to become the third-largest restaurant concept in the U.S. (as measured by domestic systemwide sales) in the year 2020. Starting this past April, we began predicting that this will actually happen one full year earlier than these media outlets suspect — forecasting that Chick-fil-A becomes the third-largest restaurant concept in the U.S. in the year 2019. But — surprise! — there appears to be a growing and reasonable chance that Chick-fil-A leaps from 7th place in 2017 to 3rd place in 2018.

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