Chipotle, Quiznos Score high In National Rankings

Biz Journals:

Two Denver-area restaurant chains — Chipotle Mexican Grill and Quiznos Sub — came away big winners in Nation’s Restaurant News’ 2006 Top 100 rankings.

The chains each ranked No. 1 in two major categories — U.S. systemwide sales growth and total U.S. unit growth. The trade magazine published the rankings in its June 26 issue.

Chipotle of Denver, which still was a McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) subsidiary last year, took first place in U.S. systemwide sales growth for chains with 33.33 percent improvement over the preceding year. Panera Bread, with 29.7 percent growth, came in second in that category.

Chipotle’s performance put it on Nation’s Restaurant News’ “A” list of growth chains for 2005, according to the magazine, along with Panera Bread, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panda Express and Texas Roadhouse.

The Denver chain’s owner, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG), spun off from McDonald’s early this year with an initial public offering. The Colorado company got twice its $22-a-share offering price, or $44 a share, raising $134 million.

Despite problems with franchisees, Denver’s Quiznos Subs chain of sandwich restaurants ranked No. 1 among chains for total U.S. unit growth, with 25.79 percent growth in 2005 over the previous year. Quiznos added 861 restaurants in that time, according to the ranking.

Quizno’s currently has more than 4,400 locations worldwide.