Asian chains drive 2025 restaurant growth and reshape menus

By Priya Raman

The top 150 global restaurant brands generated $637.4 billion in sales in 2025, up 5.7%, while their combined unit count rose 8.8% to 596,561, according to Technomic data presented at the Global Restaurant Leadership Conference in Cannes.

Where is the growth coming from?

Technomic expects the global restaurant industry to close 2026 with about 5.2% nominal growth, equivalent to 1.9% real growth after inflation.

The regional split is much wider:

• Asia-Pacific: 4% real growth.
• Europe: about 1%.
• North America: about 1%.
• Latin America: 0.6%.
• Africa and the Middle East: minus 0.8%, a region Technomic says has been affected by the war in Iran.

Geopolitical strife and supply-side shocks from war and climate change may be rattling foodservice, but the overall market still expands. David Henkes, Technomic’s senior principal and head of strategic partnerships, said consumers retain pent-up demand to eat out, although he sees some of the industry’s earlier resilience starting to fade.

How strong is customer demand?

Visits have recovered from the Covid-era drop without returning to their former frequency. Today, 66% of global consumers visit a restaurant at least once a week, compared with about 74% before Covid-19.

China leads at 92% weekly visitors, followed by Thailand at 85%. Saudi Arabia ranks third and Mexico fourth, while Singapore is fifth at 80%.

Henkes said food prices are collectively 25% to 40% higher than they were four to six years ago. Inflation has slowed over the past couple of years but remains above historic norms, making affordability the industry’s central challenge, he said.

What do the chain numbers show?

Technomic characterized 2025 as another tough year for chain restaurants as consumers cut back on dining. Unit growth outpaced sales growth across the top 150 brands, but that gap does not prove margin compression: the release provides no gross-margin, same-store-sales or inventory-turn data.

China-based chains led 2025 sales growth at 19.1%. Japan-based chains grew 10.8%, followed by the Philippines at 8.8%, Thailand at 7.4% and South Korea at 7.2%. U.S.-based chains grew sales by 4.6%.

Ann Hufford, Technomic’s senior vice president of business development, said U.S. companies are growing much faster internationally, although the presentation did not quantify that gap.

Seven of the 10 largest chains headquartered outside the United States are based in Asia-Pacific. Five are based in China:

• Luckin Coffee: $7 billion in 2025 sales.
• Haidilao: $6 billion.
• Gu Ming: $4.9 billion.
• Chagee: $4.7 billion.
• Mixue Ice Cream & Tea: $3.5 billion.

Their expansion rates reinforce the pattern:

• Luckin grew sales 48.9% and added a net 8,708 units.
• Gu Ming grew sales 46.1% and added a net 3,640 stores.
• Mixue grew sales 33% and led the market with 10,996 net openings.

“Asia-based chains have become the major drivers in global growth, both within Asia and beyond,” Hufford said.

The scale indicates where bargaining power may be shifting toward Asian beverage chains as they enter new markets. Technomic does not measure that leverage: its release names no distributors or suppliers and discloses no franchise mix, supplier contracts, platform transaction volumes or inventory turns. The market evidence rests on chain units and reported sales.

How are menus changing?

Technomic’s broader assessment names coffee, beverages, snacks and chicken as 2025 standouts, but the released figures quantify beverage and coffee categories rather than snacks or chicken. The top six global chains by net openings were Chinese beverage concepts.

Mixue, Gu Ming and Chagee are also reshaping the fastest-growing restaurant category:

• Tea-café: sales up 20.9% to $17.7 billion, the fastest growth by sales.
• Asian/noodle: sales up 9.4%, the second-fastest category.
• Coffee-café: sales up 7.3% to roughly $100 billion, the third-fastest category.

Unlike Asia-Pacific’s 4% regional growth figure, Technomic does not label those category rates as inflation-adjusted. Hufford noted that the company had not even tracked tea cafés as a cuisine type a year earlier. Chagee, she said, illustrates how modern tea concepts are moving into new markets.

Marugame, a Japanese udon concept, has found significant growth in China, Indonesia and the United States. Six out of 10 consumers globally say they choose restaurants that bring new ideas, while Henkes said global flavor and product trends are no longer confined to particular regions and are spreading quickly into menus elsewhere.

For distributors and suppliers, the signal is geographic and category-level, not a measured margin shift. Beverage, tea and noodle openings indicate potential demand for ingredients and packaging, but the source does not separate company-owned from franchised sites or disclose local sourcing, replenishment terms or stock turns.

What will 2027 require?

Consumers expect to increase restaurant visits in 2027, and Technomic expects real growth to accelerate at least slightly:

• Asia-Pacific: 3.4%.
• Middle East and Africa: 2.7%.
• North America: 1.3%.
• Latin America: 0.8%.
• Europe: 0.6%.

“This still is an industry in growth. Now, it’s a mature industry; we’re not a high-flying tech sector that’s growing 10, 15, 20, 25% a year,” Henkes said. “But conversely, we’re also not declining 15, 20, 25, 30% a year.”

He also said consumers remain cautious about discretionary spending while continuing to use restaurants and foodservice. Technomic does not disclose check averages, food and labor costs, or operator margins, so it cannot show whether higher prices are producing profitable traffic or squeezing restaurant economics.

Supply chains tied to Asia-Pacific beverage, tea-café and udon concepts have the clearest expansion signal. The near-term test is whether expected 2027 visit gains can lift traffic without worsening affordability; until then, Asia-Pacific remains the industry’s strongest measured source of unit and category growth.