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Is Taco Bell the Fastest Growing Fast-Food Chain in the US?

In this article, we’ll conduct an in-depth analysis of Taco Bell to see where it stands in terms of the fastest-growing fast food chains across America, based on number of new units opened in 2022 relative to 2021. We’ve compiled a list of 15 Fastest-Growing Fast Food Chains in the US based on this methodology.

Taco Bell

Units opened in 2022: 196

Taco Bell Corp. is a multinational chain of fast-food restaurants based in the United States. It was established in 1962 by Glen Bell in Downey, California. The fast-food Mexican chain has been expanding its reach in recent years to stimulate growth, and it appears to be achieving success in this endeavor.

In its mid-2023 update, the company shared that the business is on track to be operating 10,000 U.S.-based restaurants in the coming years. Currently, the company serves more than 8,000 restaurants, which helps it serve 40 million customers on a weekly basis. Internationally, Taco Bell has a network that’s spread across 30 countries, with the help of 1,000 international restaurants. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), also has renowned brands like KFC and Pizza Hut under its belt.

Amongst many fast-food drive-thru chains in America, like Mcdonald’s, KFC, and Wendy’s, to name a few, Taco Bell is regarded as the fastest one amongst all, with a typical order taking on average 5 minutes to get ready and served, according to Fox 11. Carl’s Jr. and KFC followed up with 303.74 seconds, and 303.95 seconds, average order-serving-time, respectively.

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) recently announced its 2024 1st quarter results. As of the 1st quarter of 2024, the total tally of Taco Bell’s units is 8,555, with 56 new restaurants opening in the quarter, across 14 countries! Taco Bell’s system sales for the quarter were recorded at $3.6 billion, up by 4% YoY (year-over-year), according to Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) quarter results. Operating profit, on the other hand, grew 2% from $204 million in the 1st quarter of 2023 to $208 million in the 2024 1st quarter. This helped Taco Bell bag an operating margin of a staggering 34.8%, which is the epitome of its impressive performance in the quarter – though the operating margin fell 0.8% as compared to a year ago. Moreover, Taco Bell’s same-store sales saw an uptick of 2%, while its international same-store sales experienced a downtick of 2%.

Furthermore, in 2024, Taco Bell is looking to boost its loyalty program, as the loyalty customers were reported to spend 40% more than traditional customers; these loyalty programs allow customers to earn and redeem points, and have early access to new products, giving a wholly personalized experience for them.

If we come down to its menu offerings, Crunchwrap Supreme is the best-selling item on its menu, 7 million of which are sold on a weekly basis. Some other customers’ favorites are Chalupa Supreme, Soft Taco, and Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Such yummy offerings have helped Taco Bell bag a healthy customer base that tallies a staggering figure of 2 billion, who are served every year, according to Gitnux! Some of the competitors of Taco Bell are Wendy’s, Chipotle, and McDonald’s; but amongst them, Del Taco is the one that’s on the rise and one that Taco Bell would be keeping an eye on.

Based on the number of units opened in 2022 relative to 2021, however, Taco Bell is NOT the fastest-growing fast-food chain in the US, but it ranks 5th in our list of the 15 fastest-growing fast-food chains in America.

If you want to see which chain is the fastest-growing in the US, visit our free report 15 Fastest-Growing Fast-Food Chains in the US.

AI, Tariffs, Nuclear Power: One Undervalued Stock Connects ALL the Dots (Before It Explodes!)

Artificial intelligence is the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime. The time to invest in groundbreaking AI is now, and this stock is a steal!

AI is eating the world—and the machines behind it are ravenous.

Each ChatGPT query, each model update, each robotic breakthrough consumes massive amounts of energy. In fact, AI is already pushing global power grids to the brink.

Wall Street is pouring hundreds of billions into artificial intelligence—training smarter chatbots, automating industries, and building the digital future. But there’s one urgent question few are asking:

Where will all of that energy come from?

AI is the most electricity-hungry technology ever invented. Each data center powering large language models like ChatGPT consumes as much energy as a small city. And it’s about to get worse.

Even Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, issued a stark warning:

“The future of AI depends on an energy breakthrough.”

Elon Musk was even more blunt:

“AI will run out of electricity by next year.”

As the world chases faster, smarter machines, a hidden crisis is emerging behind the scenes. Power grids are strained. Electricity prices are rising. Utilities are scrambling to expand capacity.

And that’s where the real opportunity lies…

One little-known company—almost entirely overlooked by most AI investors—could be the ultimate backdoor play. It’s not a chipmaker. It’s not a cloud platform. But it might be the most important AI stock in the US owns critical energy infrastructure assets positioned to feed the coming AI energy spike.

As demand from AI data centers explodes, this company is gearing up to profit from the most valuable commodity in the digital age: electricity.

The “Toll Booth” Operator of the AI Energy Boom

  • It owns critical nuclear energy infrastructure assets, positioning it at the heart of America’s next-generation power strategy.
  • It’s one of the only global companies capable of executing large-scale, complex EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) projects across oil, gas, renewable fuels, and industrial infrastructure.
  • It plays a pivotal role in U.S. LNG exportation—a sector about to explode under President Trump’s renewed “America First” energy doctrine.

Trump has made it clear: Europe and U.S. allies must buy American LNG.

And our company sits in the toll booth—collecting fees on every drop exported.

But that’s not all…

As Trump’s proposed tariffs push American manufacturers to bring their operations back home, this company will be first in line to rebuild, retrofit, and reengineer those facilities.

AI. Energy. Tariffs. Onshoring. This One Company Ties It All Together.

While the world is distracted by flashy AI tickers, a few smart investors are quietly scooping up shares of the one company powering it all from behind the scenes.

AI needs energy. Energy needs infrastructure.

And infrastructure needs a builder with experience, scale, and execution.

This company has its finger in every pie—and Wall Street is just starting to notice.

Wall Street is noticing this company also because it is quietly riding all of these tailwinds—without the sky-high valuation.

While most energy and utility firms are buried under mountains of debt and coughing up hefty interest payments just to appease bondholders…

This company is completely debt-free.

In fact, it’s sitting on a war chest of cash—equal to nearly one-third of its entire market cap.

It also owns a huge equity stake in another red-hot AI play, giving investors indirect exposure to multiple AI growth engines without paying a premium.

And here’s what the smart money has started whispering…

The Hedge Fund Secret That’s Starting to Leak Out

This stock is so off-the-radar, so absurdly undervalued, that some of the most secretive hedge fund managers in the world have begun pitching it at closed-door investment summits.

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Why? Because excluding cash and investments, this company is trading at less than 7 times earnings.

And that’s for a business tied to:

  • The AI infrastructure supercycle
  • The onshoring boom driven by Trump-era tariffs
  • A surge in U.S. LNG exports
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You simply won’t find another AI and energy stock this cheap… with this much upside.

This isn’t a hype stock. It’s not riding on hope.

It’s delivering real cash flows, owns critical infrastructure, and holds stakes in other major growth stories.

This is your chance to get in before the rockets take off!

Disruption is the New Name of the Game: Let’s face it, complacency breeds stagnation.

AI is the ultimate disruptor, and it’s shaking the foundations of traditional industries.

The companies that embrace AI will thrive, while the dinosaurs clinging to outdated methods will be left in the dust.

As an investor, you want to be on the side of the winners, and AI is the winning ticket.

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A New Dawn is Coming to U.S. Stocks

I work for one of the largest independent financial publishers in the world – representing over 1 million people in 148 countries.

We’re independently funding today’s broadcast to address something on the mind of every investor in America right now…

Should I put my money in Artificial Intelligence?

Here to answer that for us… and give away his No. 1 free AI recommendation… is 50-year Wall Street titan, Marc Chaikin.

Marc’s been a trader, stockbroker, and analyst. He was the head of the options department at a major brokerage firm and is a sought-after expert for CNBC, Fox Business, Barron’s, and Yahoo! Finance…

But what Marc’s most known for is his award-winning stock-rating system. Which determines whether a stock could shoot sky-high in the next three to six months… or come crashing down.

That’s why Marc’s work appears in every Bloomberg and Reuters terminal on the planet…

And is still used by hundreds of banks, hedge funds, and brokerages to track the billions of dollars flowing in and out of stocks each day.

He’s used this system to survive nine bear markets… create three new indices for the Nasdaq… and even predict the brutal bear market of 2022, 90 days in advance.

Click to continue reading…