Guest Commentary by David Wirgler
Originally published on LinkedIn
America runs on fast food. Turns out, so does the investment market.
Of the 90,000+ commercial real estate deals we tracked from 2021–2026, nearly 1 in 4 was a QSR property. That’s 22,000+ closings — more than any other single asset type in our dataset.
One sector. One quarter of the entire market.
Starbucks. Taco Bell. Chick-fil-A. Dunkin’. Burger King. Pizza Hut. Domino’s. Wendy’s. Chipotle. McDonald’s. The most familiar names in American life are also some of the most traded real estate assets in the country.
This isn’t an accident.
The combination of recognizable credit tenants, passive NNN structures, and accessible price points has created a buyer pool unlike anything else in CRE. And while broader transaction volume pulled back sharply during the rate reset of 2022–2023, QSR held its ground and recovered faster than most.
Fast food built an empire on consistency and convenience.
So did fast food real estate.
The drive-through isn’t going anywhere. Neither is investor appetite for what’s underneath it.
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