In a year when many fast-food restaurants (aka QSRs) are struggling to maintain traffic, a few segments are standing out as rare bright spots.
New data from Placer.ai reveals that coffee shops, chicken spots, and Mexican-inspired chains have managed to buck the broader foot-traffic slump in the first half of 2025, as popular categories like burgers, pizza, and sandwiches saw year-over-year visit declines.
Coffee chain visits rose about 2.8% year over year in the first half of 2025, with chicken chains up 1.6% and Mexican-themed concepts up 1.9%.
In contrast, burger chains saw a 1.7% drop in visits, while sandwich shops fell over 3%.
The results highlight consumers’ growing appetite for affordable, customizable, and protein-forward meals, such as burritos and chicken sandwiches, as well as the enduring appeal of Americans’ daily coffee habit.
The performance of these segments is especially noteworthy given that even fast-food giants have felt the pinch of inflation and tighter consumer budgets as of late. McDonald’s, for example, reported a 3.6% plunge in U.S. same-store sales in Q1 of 2025, its sharpest decline since 2020, as lower-income customers pulled back.
Is Expansion Outpacing Demand?
Despite their impressive growth, even the top three categories are seeing fewer visits per store on average.
Industry data reveals that traffic per location decreased across all major QSR segments in early 2025 – including coffee, chicken, and Mexican cuisine – signaling that chains may be opening new units so aggressively that they’re merely spreading the same customer base across more stores.
For example, Chipotle opened a record 300-plus new restaurants in 2024, and Raising Cane’s added well over 100 units.
Analysts warn this could be a sign of over-saturation, as the foot traffic gains are largely coming from new locations over existing stores.
Summer Slowdown Signals Caution
The second half of the summer brought additional warning signs for the QSR industry. After solid growth in early 2025, foot traffic began softening in July, and by August, nearly every segment had begun seeing year-over-year declines.
The once high-flying chicken and Mexican categories were no exception – both saw their visit growth evaporate as the summer progressed.
And in August, chicken chains in particular suffered a notable drop in visits (and an even steeper fall in visits per location), making coffee the only major segment that’s still managing to secure year-over-year growth.
However, as Reuters recently reported, prices for coffee futures traded on the Intercontinental Exchange in New York approached an all-time high on September 16, as the market has continued to climb amid tariffs and a dry September in Brazil, sending Arabic coffee futures soaring to as high as $4.24 per pound, which could prompt consumers to rethink their daily caffeine fix as well.
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