Featured in the Pizza Power Report 2024:
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- Pizza Power Report 2024: Are We Living in a Golden Age of Pizza?
- How the Leading Chains Are Using AI to Sell More Pizza
- Old-School Operators Make Peace with Robots
- Watch Your Back, Papa Johns! Top Pizza Chains Clash for Supremacy
- Loyalty Programs: Why Points-for-Pizza Is Not Good Enough
- Why Gas Station Pizza Is Your Next Big Competitor
- Culture Is Key to Attracting High-Performing Young Workers
- The 25 Most Critically Acclaimed Pizzerias in the U.S.
- The 25 Most Popular Pizzerias in the U.S.
- Ranking the Top 10 U.S. Pizza Brands by Units and Sales
- Which Pizza Chains Are Dominating the Internet?
- Which Independent Pizzerias Are Dominating the Internet?
Click here to download the full 2024 Pizza Power Report.
Independent pizzerias will always, in some ways, be the little brothers of the biggest pizza chains. In 2022, the top 10 pizza chains brought in $25.2 billion dollars in the U.S. alone. That figure accounts for well over half of the estimated $46 billion Americans spent on pizza in 2022.
But whether or not independent pizzerias really want to become the next Domino’s—if that were even a possibility—is an open question. More money, more problems, as they say—managing over 6,000 stores doesn’t exactly sound easy, does it?
Courtesy of PMQ’s sister publication, QSR Magazine, here’s a look at the biggest chains in the segment, as measured by both systemwide sales and total number of locations. Keep in mind that both of those metrics only relate to the brands’ footprint in the U.S.
Below the top chains, you’ll find a list of five contending brands to watch out for. These shouldn’t necessarily be thought of as the brands that rank 11th through 15th on the “top pizza chains” list; rather, they are five brands that have either the momentum, or brand name, to make a serious run at some day being included in that top-10 list.
No. 1: Domino’s
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $8,752
2022 U.S. Units: 6,686
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $8,641
2021 U.S. Units: 6,560
Total Change in Units YoY: 126
No. 2: Pizza Hut
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $5,500
2022 U.S. Units: 6,561
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $5,500
2021 U.S. Units: 6,548
Total Change in Units YoY: 13
No. 3: Papa Johns
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $3,698
2022 U.S. Units: 3,376
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $3,486
2021 U.S. Units: 3,339
Total Change in Units YoY: 37
No. 4: Little Caesars
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $3,520
2022 U.S. Units: 4,173
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $4,185
2021 U.S. Units: 4,187
Total Change in Units YoY: -14
No. 5: Marco’s Pizza
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $968
2022 U.S. Units: 1,067
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $899
2021 U.S. Units: 1,002
Total Change in Units YoY: 65
No. 6: Papa Murphy’s
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $753
2022 U.S. Units: 1,168
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $809
2021 U.S. Units: 1,230
Total Change in Units YoY: -72
No. 7: MOD Pizza
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $605*
2022 U.S. Units: 531
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $590
2021 U.S. Units: 506
Total Change in Units YoY: 25
No. 8: California Pizza Kitchen
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $569**
2022 U.S. Units: 159
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $571**
2021 U.S. Units: 166
Total Change in Units YoY: -7
No. 9: Hungry Howie’s
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $479
2022 U.S. Units: 536
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $478
2021 U.S. Units: 534
Total Change in Units YoY: 2
No. 10: Round Table Pizza
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $422*
2022 U.S. Units: 417*
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $421
2021 U.S. Units: 416
Total Change in Units YoY: 1
5 “Contending” Brands To Watch
Mellow Mushroom*
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $419
2022 U.S. Units: 175
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $401
2021 U.S. Units: 173
Total Change in Units YoY: 2
Cicis Pizza
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $340
2022 U.S. Units: 279
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $286
2021 U.S. Units: 291
Total Change in Units YoY: -12
Mountain Mike’s
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $279
2022 U.S. Units: 265
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $254
2021 U.S. Units: 246
Total Change in Units YoY: 19
Sbarro
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $226
2022 U.S. Units: 351
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $196
2021 U.S. Units: 315
Total Change in Units YoY: 36
Toppers Pizza
2022 U.S. Sales (Millions): $82
2022 U.S. Units: 73
2021 U.S. Sales (Millions): $78
2021 U.S. Units: 70
Total Change in Units YoY: 3
Data courtesy of QSR magazine.
*Estimate.
**Data courtesy of FSR magazine.
