Bubbakoo’s Burritos, which today has about 150 locations, plans to accelerate franchise development under its new private equity owner.
Story HighlightsTaco Bell continues its reign as the largest Mexican franchise on the Franchise Times Top 400 as it generated $18.4 billion in global sales last year.Regional brand Bubbakoo’s Burritos, acquired by Thompson Street Capital Partners in 2025, reported a 17 percent sales increase and is poised to ramp up franchise development.Emphasizing fresh preparation and protein-forward menu items, Qdoba leveraged its position in the category to increase system sales by 9.2 percent. It’s now approaching 900 stores.
Growth for the Mexican category moderated slightly in 2025, with total sales of $23.4 billion from 13 franchises ranked on the Franchise Times Top 400. That’s a 5.3 percent increase over 2024 but a dip from the 6.7 percent increase the category generated from 2023 to 2024.
The Top 400, an exclusive annual research project from Franchise Times, ranks the largest U.S.-based franchise brands by global systemwide sales.
At No. 9 overall on the list and by far the largest in the Mexican category, Taco Bell tacked on another $1.2 billion in sales to end the year at $18.4 billion. That’s a notable 6.8 percent increase, but a slowdown from the 8 percent boost the brand saw in 2024. Taco Bell added 273 net new stores last year to finish with a global count of 9,030.
The brand continued to win with value-focused promotions such as its Luxe Menu with $5, $7 and $9 price points (it added $3 items in January), and menu innovation alongside limited-time offers from its Decades lineup kept consumers engaged. Taco Bell benefited from its buzzy brand status as it worked to leverage cultural moments and create its own, such as with the annual Live Más Live event.
This year, Taco Bell is still grappling with the fallout from the cyclosporiasis outbreak over the summer. Parent company Yum Brands is scheduled to report its third quarter earnings November 3.
Related: How the ‘Cultural Rebel’ Fuels Fans and Sales for Taco Bell
Bubbakoo’s Heats Up
Bubbakoo’s CEO Chris Ives says inventive menu items help drive sales for the brand.
Taco Bell accounts for nearly 80 percent of the category’s sales, but Bubbakoo’s Burritos is the percentage growth leader at 17 percent. The New Jersey-based brand ended 2025 with $124 million in system sales to come in at No. 307 on the Top 400.
Existing franchisees are “making money and continuing to reinvest in the brand,” said CEO Chris Ives, as Bubbakoo’s added 15 restaurants to end the year with 145. Bubbakoo’s also leaned into limited-time offers and “signature creations” to help franchisees drive sales. Notable successes, said Ives, included the California Steakhouse Burrito with curly fries rolled in and a crispy birria quesadilla.
A key “margin builder,” meanwhile, came from an overhaul of the supply chain, which Ives said yielded meaningful impacts for franchisees after the brand went through a complete RFP, or request for proposals, process with its vendors.
Private equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners acquired Bubbakoo’s in June 2025 from founders Bill Hart and Paul Altero, and the brand is prepared to turn up the heat on franchise development, Ives said.
“We’ve historically been a brand where we just keep our heads down and we rely on franchisees for internal growth,” said Ives, who joined the brand in 2019 and became CEO last summer. It brought on Michael Lassen as vice president of development, invested in its real estate and site selection teams, and is dedicating resources to identify prospective operators.
“The most exciting thing is you still have a lot of people that have never heard of Bubbakoo’s. There’s a lot of white space out there … and we’re not looking to go across the entire country,” said Ives. “We’re focused on east of the Mississippi, and we’re in talks with a lot of multi-unit developers that are excited about the white space for the brand in the category.”
Qdoba, which is nearing 900 locations, plans to increase its national marketing presence even more in 2027.
Qdoba Leans On Flavor Innovation
At Qdoba Mexican Eats, in its third year under Butterfly Equity, CEO John Cywinski credited restaurant general managers with executing at the store level as systemwide sales grew 9.2 percent, to $1.3 billion. The brand, ranked No. 65, added 49 net new stores to end 2025 with 845 locations. Today it lists 892 locations.
“America loves freshly prepared food, and they love customization, preparing it the way that they want it, and they love protein-based meals,” said Cywinksi. “We’re really well-positioned in that sweet spot of the fast-casual category.”
Qdoba doesn’t play the discounting game, says CEO John Cywinski, which results in better margins for franchisees.
The brand doesn’t do a lot of discounting but instead benefits from a “robust pipeline of flavor innovation” developed by Katy Velazquez, who heads the culinary team, to drive traffic and topline sales. It brought back its habanero lime steak, introduced Mexican street corn and created a “Diptember” promotion for National Guacamole Day and National Queso Day in September.
Franchisees, said Cywinski, are drawn to Qdoba as a full-margin business model because it’s not chasing low-priced value menus. Major quick-service restaurant brands, he continued, “have resorted to sustained value menus and deeply discounted price promotions to buy market share. What franchisee find attractive about our business is we really don’t play that game. We are more selective in choosing what to promote and how to promote.”
After working with franchisees to agree to consolidate their marketing contribution behind a national fund in late 2025, Qdoba is now a “meaningful national marketer,” and Cywinski expects its campaigns to meaningfully impact the business in 2026 and 2027. The company will spend about $40 million next year for national marketing.
At the other end of the category, Del Taco, Taco John’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop all shed units and lost sales.
Sales declined 4 percent at No. 88 Del Taco as its net unit count dropped by 18. The brand, which Yadav Enterprises bought from Jack in the Box in late 2025, ended the year with $919 million in system sales from 576 stores.
Sales at Taco John’s slipped 5.6 percent, Moe’s was down 8.7 percent, and Fuzzy’s saw the biggest decline, at 12.2 percent.
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