Starbucks vaults to No. 3 for food chains

CHICAGO, April 28 (UPI) -- U.S. coffee chain Starbucks vaulted past two heavyweight burger chains to come in third in U.S. sales in 2010, a research firm said Thursday.

With Starbucks jumping past both Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers and Burger King, the report by Technomic marks a seismic shift in the choices consumers are making, as two of the top three restaurant chains do not sell hamburgers or French fries, USA Today reported.

For 2010, Technomic ranked McDonald's number one with $32.4 billion in U.S. sales and Subway at number two with $10.6 billion in sales.

Starbucks sales rose 8.7 percent in 2010 to put it in third place with $9.07 billion in sales, Advertising Age reported.

Burger King slipped from number three to number four with sales of $8.7 billion. Wendy's, in fifth place, had $8.3 billion in sales.

That said, it would be a mistake to bet against beef just yet.

Technomic said sales at Dunkin' Donuts and Pizza Hut grew 6.1 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively, last year, but "The real story was in the steak category, which recovered from a 6.4 percent decline in 2009 to a sales gain of 2.2 percent in 2010."

Further, among the fastest growing restaurant chains, Five Guys Burgers and Fries ranked number one with sales estimated at $625 million, up 38 percent in 2010.