We briefly note the following tidbits regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy), more McDonald’s, Taco Bell (owned by Yum Brands [YUM; Buy]), privately-held Chick-filA, and privately-held Subway:
With Darden Restaurants (DRI; Not Rated) recently reporting its fiscal Q2 2019 (calendar September-November 2018) results, we now have same-store sales results publicly reported from all 49 restaurant concepts for calendar Q3 (July-September) 2018 that comprise our Kalinowski Restaurant Industry Index. This report ranks all 49 concepts’ calendar Q3 2018 domestic same-store sales from best to worst.
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.