7-Eleven, Circle K & ampm Rank Among Largest Franchise Operations

NATIONAL REPORT — Three convenience chains were named among the 200 largest U.S.-based franchisors.

The Franchise Times Top 200+ placed 7-Eleven Inc., Circle K and ampm in the exclusive ranking of the 500 largest franchises.

Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven landed at No. 2, Circle K, part of Canada-based retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., landed at No. 14; and La Palma, Calif.-based ampm, a division of BP, took the No. 83 spot.

As the report noted, 7-Eleven reached $86 billion in sales. The retailer has 8,951 U.S. locations (7,213 U.S. franchised units) and ranked No. 2 last year.

Circle K rang up $10.2 billion in sales. It has 5,908 U.S. locations (562 U.S. franchised units) and ranked No. 18 last year. For its part, ampm hit $1.38 billion in sales. It has 1,015 U.S. locations (962 U.S. franchised units) and moved up from No. 85 last year.

Circle K also took the No. 3 spot on the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest Growers by Sales (26 percent) and the No. 8 spot on the Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest Growers by Units (13.7 percent).

According to the report, the 200 largest U.S.-based franchisors grew their combined annual sales by more than $26.9 billion, or 4.2 percent last year, to $671.3 billion, with most categories seeing across-the-board gains well above the previous year.

The top 10 now account for more than $310 billion in annual sales — nearly half of the entire top 200, which recorded sales of $671.3 billion in 2018, Franchise Times reported.

 "While the overall growth rate slowed some, many companies and categories still saw strong sales increases in 2018. McDonald's, for one, grew by an incredible $5.2 billion, accelerating from $5 billion in growth reported last year. Chick-fil-A grew sales by 16.2 percent, helping the chicken subcategory of restaurants grow by 9.8 percent, followed by Mexican at 6.8 percent as the strongest subcategories," said Nicholas Upton, restaurant editor at Franchise Times.

"The growth leader, however, was health and medical, which as a category grew sales by 14.5 percent, followed closely by personal services at 14.3 percent. The big decliner was casual dining, though, with a 1 percent sales decline," Upton added.

McDonald's held onto the No. 1 spot on the Franchise Times Top 200+, ringing up $96.14 billion in sales. Subway fell, shedding $1.1 billion in sales and falling off the top five for the first time since 2009.