Yelp Data Reveals the Top 50 Fastest Growing Brands of 2026

• Drive-thru chain 7 Brew tops the list as America's fastest growing brand, with 244% growth in consumer interest on Yelp.
• We've reached peak personalization: the fastest growing brands invite consumers to take part in creating their experience, from mixing the perfect beverage to customizing spice levels.
• The "dirty soda" trend has gone fully mainstream - Yelp searches increased 675% in 2025 - with brands like 7 Brew, Sonic Drive-In, and Taco Bell adding customizable sodas and energy drinks to their menus.
• Chicken dominates the list with eight brands, including Bojangles, Wingstop, and Dave's Hot Chicken, making it the most represented cuisine category.

Across the country, a mix of emerging concepts and household names are rapidly expanding. They're drawing crowds and earning the kind of consumer loyalty that drives Yelp reviews, searches, and repeat visits. Yelp's third annual list of the Fastest Growing Brands spotlights the 50 companies that achieved the most impressive growth and consumer momentum over the past year.

Yelp sits at the intersection of business growth and consumer intent. By analyzing new locations, search volume, and engagement trends across our platform, we can identify exactly which brands are surging and which ones people can't stop talking about.

Topping the list this year is 7 Brew, a drive-thru-only coffee brand that's grown from its Arkansas roots into a national phenomenon. In line with the top brand, this year's list paints a vivid picture of what American consumers want right now: a personalized experience. Whether it's an iced coffee customized to their liking or a chicken sandwich tuned to the perfect spice level, the fastest growing brands are those inviting customers to take part in creating the experience.

With no interior seating or lobby, just a lane, a window, and a high-energy team, this year's fastest growing brand, 7 Brew, has built its brand on speed and customization. According to Yelp data, the coffee chain saw a whopping 244% growth in consumer interest in 2025, an impressive feat given 7 Brew debuted on the Fastest Growing Brands list last year at number 23.

Americans are increasingly centering their morning routines around caffeinated drive-thru beverages. Three other coffee brands landed in the top 50: Black Rock Coffee Bar (no. 8), Scooter's Coffee, and Dutch Bros (no. 38). Beverage-forward concepts Smoothie King (no. 2) and Sonic Drive-In (no. 48), also highlight how quick-service beverages have become a must-have for millions of Americans.

This is more than a caffeine story. "Dirty sodas"-customized fountain drinks mixed with flavored syrups, cream, and fruit-started as a regional ritual in Utah before going mainstream after being highlighted in Hulu's "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives." Now, brands like 7 Brew are riding the wave with their own take, 7 Fizz, as Gen Z and millennial consumers share wildly popular "What's your order?" social content. Others like Scooter's Coffee, Sonic Drive-In and even Taco Bell (no. 12) are adding these sweet treats to mix up their menus, with some offering energy drink add-ons for folks who prefer a coffee-less buzz. Yelp first forecasted the rise of dirty sodas in 2022, and searches have skyrocketed (up 2,547%) since then, increasing 675% in 2025 alone.

Check out the full list of Yelp's 2026 Fastest Growing Brands:

If the drive-thru beverage is the ritual that starts the American day, chicken is the protein that fuels the rest of it. Eight chicken-focused brands appear on this year's list, making chicken the single most dominant cuisine category on the Fastest Growing Brands list.

The chicken boom is fueled in part by America's full-blown protein obsession. From protein-fortified snacks lining grocery aisles to fast-casual chains promoting high-protein bowls, the macronutrient has become a defining feature of how Americans eat. Its dominance on this list also reflects the personalization theme: consumers can choose traditional Southern at Bojangles (no. 3), Nashville hot at Dave's Hot Chicken (no. 18), Korean-fried at bb.q Chicken (no. 49), or even gas station-fried at Krispy Krunchy Chicken (no. 34) or Champs Chicken (no. 45).

Value has evolved. It's no longer just about price-it's about what a brand gives you in return for your attention and your time. The fastest growing brands deliver joy for every dollar spent. They give consumers control, whether that's countless drink combinations, a bookstore where every shelf feels hand-picked, or a chicken sandwich customized to your exact specifications. Personalization is what's driving loyalty today.

- Sarah Chang, VP, Head of Enterprise at Yelp

The chicken and coffee themes that define this year's national list are reflected at the regional and state level as well. Wingstop (no. 10) and Dave's Hot Chicken appear in the top 5 in nearly every region and the majority of states-proof that bold-flavored, craveable chicken concepts have universal appeal, regardless of region.

Meanwhile, the drive-thru beverage ritual among growing national brands is playing out regionally: Scooter's Coffee dominates the Great Plains (top 5 in NE, SD, OK, WY, MT), 7 Brew is surging through the South and heartland (LA, TN, AL, NM, NE), Dutch Bros is pushing into new Sun Belt territory (FL, KY, MO), and Black Rock Coffee Bar is leading the Mountain West (ID, CO, AZ). Rather than one chain winning the national coffee war, consumers are rallying behind brands with distinct regional identities, a fragmentation that mirrors the personalization theme driving this year's list.

If there's a single takeaway from this year's list, it's that we've hit peak personalization. The expectation that a brand will meet you exactly where you are, with exactly what you want, has moved from differentiator to default. As this expectation becomes table stakes, the brands that thrive will be those that continue to find new ways to hand consumers the reins. For more information on how to leverage Yelp's data for your brand, visit Yelp for Brands.

- Felix Foerster contributed to this report.

To identify the Fastest Growing Brands, our data analysts ranked brands using a blended and weighted metric including net new business openings, consumer interest, and searches on Yelp in 2025 compared to 2024. We measure net new business openings by considering new business openings and net closures in relation to the total number of locations in 2025 compared to 2024. Consumer interest is measured by looking at select actions users take in connection with businesses on Yelp, including viewing business pages or posting photos or reviews. Searches include the number of total searches for a brand in 2025 compared to 2024, as well as the brand's share of category searches.

Search Trends Data

For search trends, Yelp measured the change in frequency of the phrases mentioned per million searches on Yelp, comparing 2025 to 2024.

Downloadable static graphics can be found here.