Starbucks surpasses Subway to become the second largest restaurant chain in the world

The company that’s best known for its coffee, but qualifies as a restaurant for its limited food offerings, catapulted past Subway last year, according to data from Technomic. As of the end of last year, there were 38,587 Starbucks locations worldwide, while Subway’s total count came in at just 36,516.

Subway, at one time, had more global locations than any restaurant chain, but has lost substantial ground to competitors in recent years, closing 6,000 U.S. stores between 2015 and 2021. (The company has since resumed opening new ones.) Starbucks, meanwhile, had an aggressive expansion last year, with the chain adding nearly 3,000 stores, which reshuffled the restaurant order.

McDonald’s remains the global leader, with 41,822 locations. That puts Starbucks well within striking distance, at least in terms of locations. Last November, Starbucks said it plans to add just under 15,000 locations outside of the U.S. by 2030.

“Three out of every four new stores over the near term is expected to be opened outside of the U.S. as our store portfolio becomes increasingly global,” Michael Conway, president of Starbucks’ international and channel development divisions, said during a company presentation announcing the expansion.

Locations are one thing, but when it comes to sales, McDonald’s will likely have the lead for a long, long time. In 2022, Subway reported $15.6 billion in global sales and Starbucks booked $28.1 billion.

McDonald’s saw sales of roughly $120 billion that year.

There has been consumer pushback to increasingly high prices at the fast-food giant, though. That has prompted McDonald’s to bring back “affordability” to its menu. The chain also could have another hit on its hands with its Starbucks competitor CosMc’s, which saw people waiting hours in line when it first opened.