The Top 2 Mexican Chain Restaurants In The US Have Thousands Of Locations More Than The Rest

Mexican food has become one of the most popular cuisines in America, and in the chain restaurant sphere, there are two spots that absolutely dominate. While burgers still dominate the lists of largest chain restaurants in the U.S., for years, the "international" food that the country couldn't get enough of was Italian. Propped up by pizza's enduring popularity, it was the food Americans ordered most, and it still is, but Mexican restaurants have been rising rapidly, and Mexican has already overtaken Italian with younger generations. And if you are grabbing a chain Mexican meal in the U.S., you are almost certainly getting it from Taco Bell or Chipotle.

Taco Bell is far and away the No. 1 spot for Mexican in the country, with over 7,600 locations at the end of 2024, according to the Technomic report's count of top restaurant chains. Chipotle is a clear-but-distant No. 2, with just over 3,600. After that, there is another huge drop, and things get a little more competitive. 

Qdoba is No. 3 with only 777 locations. Finally, Moe's Southwest Grill and Del Taco are battling it out to finish the top five, with 596 and 594 locations, respectively. And Mexican chains are absolutely dominated by fast food and fast casual spots. Unless you really stretch the definition of Mexican to include the Tex-Mex Chili's, the biggest sit-down Mexican restaurant chain is On the Border Mexican Grill, which only has around 98 locations.

While both are fast service spots, Taco Bell and Chipotle do represent competing visions of Mexican food. Neither was founded by a Mexican-American of course, with Taco Bell being created by Glen Bell and Chipotle the brain-child of chef Steve Ells, but Chipotle does emphasize fresher, higher-quality ingredients, with some more "authentically" Mexican ingredients like carnitas and barbacoa. Meanwhile, Taco Bell's menu has leaned hard into its reputation as something that is almost a category of food in and of itself, with its popularity driven more by things like the Cheesy Gordita Crunch and Crunchwrap Supreme than anything you would find on the streets of Mexico.

America clearly has an appetite for both, because Taco Bell and Chipotle have both continued to grow quickly in recent years. Chipotle opened 304 new locations in 2024, and its total revenue increased by almost 15%. Taco Bell also opened almost 200 new locations in the U.S. last year, despite how widespread it already is, and has opened 2,300 locations in the past decade. That's actually more than Chipotle did over that period, despite it being a much newer chain with more room to grow. 

Taco Bell's parent company, Yum! Brands, recently announced a plan to hit 10,000 U.S. units by 2030. Clearly, Americans' taste for Mexican food isn't anywhere close to being satiated. Hopefully, we can get a few more sit-down spots as it continues to soar.