Charleys Philly Steaks Ranked By Franchise Times Again
Iconic Cheesesteak Franchise Ranks High on Prestigious Annual List
Charleys Philly Steaks has done it again. In recognition of the famed cheesesteak shop’s incredible growth and brand awareness, Charleys Philly Steaks has landed on The Franchise Time’s Top 500 list, one of the most prominent rankings of franchises in the U.S. that’s used by aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere to find out which brands are best bet investments. This year, Charleys Philly Steaks climbed the rankings to take No. 162 out of thousands of competing brands.
For years, The Franchise Times Top 500 has been one of the most revered rankings of franchise systems in the U.S., backed by more than 20 years of research. Every year, franchises from all over the country undergo an extensive and comprehensive evaluation of their financials, brand performance, growth trends and a whole host of other factors. That’s why today, The Franchise Times Top 500 remains one of the only objective rankings available for aspiring business owners to look into which franchises are a smart investment in the coming years.
“Our research team spends months compiling information for the rankings, the five-year sales history graphs, Top 10 lists and industry subcategories, and then reconciling to ensure all published data is accurate and all estimates are based on a solid sales formula,” The Franchise Times reported.

A Year of Growth and More to Come
If you look at the incredible growth Charleys accomplished in 2022, it’s not hard to see why the wildly famous sub/sandwich shop placed so high on the rankings. From 2020 to 2021, for instance, Charleys Philly Steaks added nearly 50 new locations, all this at a time of economic uncertainty with the pandemic, inflation, and supply chain issues. Sales, too, not only rebounded from the 2020 pandemic year, they surpassed 2019, reaching $534,075,539! And so, just to recap, Charleys Philly Steaks saw 7.2% unit growth and a 50.4% sales growth from 2020 to 2021. Truly remarkable!
What’s more, there’s no plan to slow down. Indeed, with 742 current Charleys Philly Steaks locations, the brand is about to take the country by storm with ambitious plans to have 3,000 operating locations in the coming years. And, Charleys Philly Steaks is poised to land a mark on committees across the U.S. on all fronts, opening new stores in gas/convenience stores, strip malls, and stand alone units. Oh, and did we mention an exclusive contract to open hundreds of new locations within the retail mega-giant Walmart?
“Our goal is to reach 3,000 stores in the coming years,” says Charley Shin, CEO and founder of Charleys Philly Steaks. “We’ve been growing at about 60 stores a year for the past several years, and about 70% of our growth comes from our existing franchisees reinvesting in the brand—which is extremely positive.
We exist to help our franchisees become successful in business, and we want to help as many entrepreneurs as we can. This brand has never been more successful than it is today, and we’ve never been more excited about the future.”
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