Inflation continues to shake Americans and their budgets. Between May 2024 and May 2025, the cost of eating out rose by 3.8%, according to federal data.
As a result, the importance of value for the money has grown, and that’s reflected in Yelp’s latest annual ranking of the fastest-growing food and shopping chains.
Nearly half (46%) of the 50 businesses ranked in 2025 are restaurants that offer value meals or menus or retailers known for affordability. That’s a large jump from 18% in 2024.
Yelp came up with its 2025 list by analyzing net new business openings, consumer interest and searches on Yelp. It gauged consumer interest by looking at certain interactions that people have with businesses on Yelp, such as viewing business pages or posting photos or reviews.
Restaurants comprise much of the top 50 brands.
Let’s take a look at the top 15 fastest-growing eateries:
- Nothing Bundt Cakes (ranked No. 5 among all food and shopping chains included in Yelp’s analysis)
- Jersey Mike’s Subs (No. 6)
- BB.Q Chicken (No. 7)
- Panda Express (No. 8)
- Culver’s (No. 9)
- Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (No. 11)
- LongHorn Steakhouse (No. 12)
- The Habit Burger & Grill (No. 13)
- Olive Garden (No. 14)
- Godfather’s Pizza (No. 17)
- Domino’s Pizza (No. 19)
- Jimmy John’s (No. 20)
- L&L Hawaiian Barbecue (No. 21)
- Playa Bowls (No. 24)
- McDonald’s (No. 25)
Some coffee chains also experienced a lot of growth but aren’t featured on this list. Check out “The Fastest-Growing Coffee Shop in America? Not Starbucks” for more on that.
While Nothing Bundt Cakes isn’t a true restaurant, this chain still outgrew others in Yelp’s restaurant and food categories. In 2023, it also placed second in Yelp’s Most Loved Brands ranking.
This growing brand was started in 1997 by two moms, Dena Tripp and Debbie Shwetz, in their Las Vegas home kitchens. Now, the company has more than 600 locations spanning from coast to coast.
That growth helped it jump up 21 spots in Yelp’s 2025 ranking compared with the 2024 ranking. Yelp also says that Americans’ love for sweets is likely contributing to demand for companies like Nothing Bundt Cakes: The chain earned a high sentiment score for taste, “indicating that Americans are sharing their love for sweets in Yelp reviews.”
As for the rest of the top-ranking eateries, Jersey Mike’s Subs (the second-highest-ranked restaurant or food chain) moved up four spots from last year.
BB.Q Chicken, Godfather’s Pizza, Domino’s Pizza, Jimmy John’s and McDonald’s are all completely new additions to Yelp’s ranking, though — demonstrating just how much growth they’ve experienced in a short amount of time.
A few of Yelp’s top 15 fastest-growing eateries also made it onto the American Customer Satisfaction Index as some of the top most-satisfying full-service restaurants of 2025. You can learn about that in “The 23 Most Satisfying Restaurants in America — Plus the Worst-Rated Chains.”
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