In this article, we will take a look at the 7 best restaurant stocks to buy for growth in 2026.
2024 was a challenging year for the restaurant industry, which struggled under inflation and reduced discretionary spending. The industry did a great job of turning it around in 2025 by carrying out menu changes and cashing in on a healthier spending appetite of the general public. 2026 is about to test that turnaround for more reasons than one.
Earlier this year, the US Department of Agriculture released its 2026 price outlook for the food industry. One thing to note in that outlook was that the prices of products relied on by the takeaway and dine-out industry were expected to increase by nearly 5%.
Beef prices offer an interesting example. They are expected to rise by 9.4% in 2026. Add to this rising inflation, reduced disposable income, and expensive restaurant food, and restaurants will face a whole new challenge.
According to a McKinsey & Company report on the industry, more than half of the spending on food and beverages in the USA is away from home. This is positive, but could change as prices rise. Breakfast habits already point to this shift as people stop spending in the earlier part of the day, according to the report:
The sharpest shift, however, is happening at breakfast, once the hottest growth area for restaurant operators. In both FSRs and LSRs, breakfast-spending growth now lags behind all other dayparts. When consumers feel their budgets are pinched, they tend to cut back on breakfast spending, since it is often seen as a more discretionary dining category.
Even in this uncertain environment, some restaurants are expected to grow their topline. We decided to create a list of the best restaurant stocks to buy for growth in 2026.
Our Methodology
To come up with our list of 7 best restaurant stocks to buy for growth in 2026, we only considered stocks in the restaurant industry with a market cap of at least $2 billion. We then looked at their expected revenue growth rate for 2026 and filtered out companies with growth rates of at least 10%. We limited our final selection to companies that have recently reported noteworthy developments likely to impact investor sentiment. These stocks are also popular among analysts and elite hedge funds and are listed in ascending order of the number of hedge funds holding them in their portfolios.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).
Note: All share price data in the article is as per market close on March 23.
7. CAVA Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAVA)
On March 16, JP Morgan’s John Ivankoe maintained his Buy rating on the CAVA Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAVA) stock, along with a price target of $80. This is below the stock’s current market price. Sara Senatore of the Bank of America Securities has a higher price target of $95, which she reiterated on March 11. This also happens to be the highest price target on Wall Street, offering 13% upside from here.
These updates come after the company’s Q4 2025 results announced on February 24. Despite pressure on margins, which will likely worsen given higher oil prices and resulting inflation, management is planning 74 to 76 new restaurant openings in 2026. While the management does not plan any price increases in its menu, this was said before oil prices took off at the end of February.
Apart from the new markets being targeted, the company also announced the addition of its first-ever seafood offering: Pomegranate-glazed Salmon. The item is expected to be available in restaurants by the end of Q1 2026. The new item is also expected to put pressure on the company’s margins in the short term.
CAVA Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAVA) is an operator and owner of a chain of restaurants under the CAVA brand across the United States. The company also offers spreads, dips, and dressings through grocery stores, as well as online and mobile ordering platforms.
Hedge Fund Resource Center