In the US I gotta think it is between 7-11 and Starbuck’s with the former being my guess. In the world I am guessing maybe McDonald’s?
ANybody got the hard cold facts?
I’d say McDonalds for both. I don’t see nearly as many 711’s or Starbucks.
Inside the US, it’s Subway, believe or it not. They haven’t caught up to McDonald’s worldwide yet.
Dated 2005. Other sources seem to back up the claim.
Starbucks? I highly doubt it. Where I live (in Chicago proper, no less), there are 6 Starbucks within 5 miles. There are 34 McDonald’s in the same range.
For some McDonald’s numbers:
There are 31,886 restaurants in the world in 2005. I can’t find more current numbers right now, but in 1998 there were over 12,000 McDonald’s in the US.
Starbuck’s has 7,960 stores in the US as of May 2006. And another 3,275 outside the US.
Ah, this article actually compares McD’s and Starbucks and gives the figures of 13,700 for local stores.
answer.com says that Subway overtook McDonald’s in the US in 2001.
Subway’s site claims “26879 Restaurants In 86 Countries”. McDonald’s has something in the vicinity of 30,000.
Holy crap. Would never have guess. According to the company web site, they have 20,496 restaurants in the US. I guess if you think about it, it makes sense. It doesn’t take nearly as much to set up shop with a Subway as with a McDonald’s.
A quick look at the Starbuck’s wikipedia page showed me how far off I was on that. But I still think 7-11 might be more numerous in the US than McDonald’s.
Yeah, surprised me, too. But you can stick a Subway in a fairly small retail space and start flogging sangwidges. I wonder how they compare on square footage or number of customers served.
I just checked on Yahoo! Yellow Pages and there are 30 McDonald’s 5 miles or closer to my house, 30 Seven-elevens and 44 Subways.
I’m 41 miles from the nearest 7-11, but only about a mile from the nearest McDonald’s and Subway. The chain has almost no presence in upstate NY, whereas the other chains can be found in any large town.
According to 7-11, they have 7,100 stores in North America, with a total of 31,000 worldwide.
According to the 7-11 company website, they have “more than 31,000” worldwide. There’s only 7100 in North America. They seem to have a pretty high density in Singapore and Japan. They’re almost certainly the biggest store in those countries.
Closest to home != closest to where you want to have lunch.
McDonalds != Starbucks
Near Cleveland, there were maybe 4 7-11s within a half hour of me. In Vegas, there’s on one every corner. Almost every convenience store is a 7-11. There are probably 50+ within a few miles of me.
From someone who considered it: Subway is the cheapest major food franchise if you are looking to start one from zero.
As for Starbuck, it seems that 99.76% of them are in California. Hence the joke about a Starbucks opening in the restrooms of another Starbucks. 
Can we include Canada in the search? In my time there, I can’t imagine seeing any store/restaurant in any country that’s more prevalent than Tim Horton’s is in southern Ontario.
Jews have Bar Mitzvahs and Bas Mitzvahs. Canadians give their kids a Tim Horton’s.
Within 5 miles of my house:
McDonalds: 10
Burger King: “The type initializer for BK.Mapping.Framework.MapQuestUtil threw an exception”
Wendy’s: 7
Starbucks: 12
7-Eleven: 3
Subway: 9
Quizno’s Subs: 3
Teh winnar: Starbucks
I gotta say, this was very surprising to read. I don’t remember the last time I saw a real-live 7-11. They occasionally show up in the movies or something, but otherwise I would have assumed they’d gone completely out of business. I live in rural Ohio, and used to live in Indianapolis.
Just because you don’t like getting shot while buying insane amounts of sugary liquids doesn’t mean they don’t exist, you know?
Slurpees are worth taking a round in a non-vital area.