Wendy’s Unseats Burger King as #2 Spot For Burgers

The Burger King is no longer as kingly in burger restaurant sales stats, as Wendy’s has unseated the chain as number two after McDonald’s.

Technomic Inc. is a food industry research group, and a report set for release next month indicates that Wendy’s has outpaced long-time reigning second banana Burger King to grab the runner-up spot for sales in the burger sector. The shift occurred in fiscal year 2011, when Wendy’s sales of $8.5 billion edged ahead of Burger King’s $8.4 billion in takings by a tenth of a billion. (Which is nearly chump change for McDonald’s, who grossed $34.2 billion in sales in 2011 alone.)

Overall, in the fast food genre, BK and Wendy’s don’t crack the top three- Subway is actually number two with more than $11 billion in sales, and number three is unsurprisingly Starbucks, who is supplying the country with their daily dose of caffeine on what appears to be every single street corner in America and two per corner in New York City.

CBS points out that the changes account only for US sales, and that globally, Burger King is still second place in burgers:

“The figures are based Technomic’s estimates of system-wide sales at franchise and company-owned restaurants, rather than corporate revenue, which includes fees from franchise operators. Worldwide, Burger King still has far more restaurants than Wendy’s and remains the second biggest hamburger chain.”

In recent years, growth at McDonald’s and Wendy’s- where a shift in positioning the offerings as a bit healthier and more refined- has spurred on the trends. While sales at McDonald’s were up 26% over the past half decade and have spiked 9% at Wendy’s, Burger King has had sales remain flat over the same time period.