Texas Roadhouse and Jollibee have been named among the fastest-growing restaurant brands in the world.
According to Brand Finance’s “Restaurants 25” report, both Texas Roadhouse and Jollibee showed enormous brand value growth in 2023.
Brand Finance is a London-based consultancy firm with a presence in 20 countries. It is a leader in independent brand valuation and has been in operation since 1996.
To determine the value of a brand, Brand Finance’s methodology assesses the brand’s strength on a 100-point scale, calculates its royalty rate, and forecasts its revenue after tax. Based on this valuation, its “Restaurants 25” report ranks the 25 most valuable restaurant brands.
Starbucks and McDonald’s, which are worth $53.4 billion and $36.9 billion, respectively, topped Brand Finance’s list this year.
The Seattle-based coffee chain took the top spot for the seventh consecutive year and extended its lead by rising 17%, while the creator of the Big Mac fell 7%.
While not quite in the same league as these two heavy hitters, Texas Roadhouse and Jollibee, worth $2.3 billion (no.17) and $1.6 billion (no.20) respectively, got special recognition for their strong expansion strategies that led to enormous gains in brand valuation.
Texas Roadhouse, the popular steakhouse chain, saw an impressive jump of 56% this year — the most on the list. As of February 2023, it had 619 locations, 70 in the Lone Star State. It aims to reach 900 locations total in the near future, per Brand Finance.
Despite the name, Texas Roadhouse originated a little farther north. Its first location opened in Clarksville, Indiana, in 1993, and the chain is now headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
Whether attributable to the brand’s 15 varieties of margaritas or that 44% of its menu is high-quality but affordable steak, Texas Roadhouse has seen tremendous growth in the past few years. Its executives are also optimistic about the future.
Texas Roadhouse CEO Jerry Morgan said during a recent earnings call with investors that he believes it is possible to double the chain’s revenue over the next decade, per Nation’s Restaurant News.
Meanwhile, Jollibee, the Filipino fast-food chain, has also experienced significant growth. Marking the second-fastest growth in 2023, its value rose by 53%.
Jollibee currently has 1,300 locations across the world and 70 in North America, serving up fried chicken, hamburgers, and jolly spaghetti (a fusion-style sweet pasta dish). The chain hopes to open 500 more stores in the coming years.
Dallas has its very own Jollibee at 4703 Greenville Ave, and so does Plano at 1016 Preston Rd.
The openings of its locations in Toronto, Queens, and Manhattan were accompanied by long lines of customers eager to try the brand’s offerings.
Yet its location in Manhattan, which boasts one of the largest Filipino populations in the country, really helped the brand value to take off since opening in 2018.
The brand’s executives also want to appeal to customers beyond this demographic.
“Our strategy in entering U.S. is to go to where large Filipino communities are and from there, we crossover to mainstream markets,” Ernesto Tanmantiong, Jollibee Foods Corp’s CEO, told Bloomberg News during an interview.
Given how large the fried chicken market is in the U.S., Tanmantiong explained that it is here that the brand has focused its attention.
With that being said, right behind Texas Roadhouse and Jollibee on Brand Finance’s list of fastest-growing brands was Popeyes, showing a 49% bump in valuation to $1.8 billion.