The Fictional Foodie Franchises Most Likely to Succeed in the Real World

A study by food box company, Gousto has revealed the ‘fictional foodie franchises’ that would ‘make it’ in the real world.

The study highlighted 20 iconic eateries as seen-on-screen, revealing how they would stack up if they were real businesses.

Out of a possible score of 75, the study awarded points to the fictional franchises using success markers such as TripAdvisor reviews, number of years open and Instagram hashtags (amongst others) to find the franchise most likely to succeed.

Key Findings: 

• Breaking Bad’s ‘Los Pollos Hermanos’ most likely to succeed in the real world
• ‘The Winchester’ pub from Shaun of the Dead was least likely to succeed in the real world with the lowest score of 16 out of 75
• Fast food chains are the franchise type most likely to succeed
• American Psycho’s ‘Dorsia’ and Friends’ ‘Central Perk’ landed the best TripAdvisor reviews of 4.5*
• Los Pollos Hermanos is the most instagrammable, racking up 1.4m posts tagged with the #LosPollosHermanos
• JJ’s Diner from Parks and Recreation has 32k employees, making it one of the most

From Vesuvio’s, in The Sopranos to Gusteau’s in Ratatouille, we’ve found the three closest real-world equivalents for each fictional franchise and measured their achievements accordingly to find an average success rate.

Top Fictional Franchises Most Likely to Succeed in the Real World

Out of a possible 75 points Los Pollos Hermanos took the top spot, making it the most likely to succeed if it opened its doors to the real world.

These are the top 10 foodie franchises most likely to succeed (based on data from their real-life counterparts).

1. 1. Breaking Bad – Los Pollos Hermanos – Fast Food, Chicken : 57/75
   2. Stranger Things – Scoops Ahoy – Ice Cream Parlour: 44/75 
   3. Parks and Recreation – JJ’s Diner – American Diner: 34/75
   4. =American Psycho – Dorsia – Fine Dining Restaurant: 30/75
   5. =That 70’s Show – Fatso Burger – Fast Food, Burgers: 30/75

• =Pulp Fiction – Jack Rabbit Slims – American Diner: 31/75

1. 1. =The Simpsons – Krusty Burger – Fast Food, Burgers: 31/75
   2. Gilmore Girls – Luke’s Diner – American Diner: 29/75

• 90210 – The Peach Pit – American Bistro: 27/75

1. =The Sopranos – Vesuvio’s – Italian Restaurant: 27/75

Bottom 5 Foodie Franchises Least Likely to Succeed in the ‘Real World’

It turns out it isn’t looking good for the good old British pub, which came in last place. Shaun of the Deads’, The Winchester scored just 16 out of a possible 75.

Most Influential Fictional Foodie Franchise

Social media plays a huge part in proving popularity and building a successful business.

So, we looked to Instagram hashtags to give us a generalised idea of how many people are visiting the franchises real-life counterparts. It is no surprise that fast food chicken shop, Los Pollos Hermanos came out top with just under 1.5 million instagram posts.

1. Breaking Bad – Los Pollos Hermanos: 1.4M
2. Parks and Recreation – JJ’s Diner: 426K
3. Stranger Things – Scoops Ahoy: 297K
4. The Simpsons – Krusty Burger: 73K
5. That 70’s Show – Fatso Burger: 32K
6. American Psycho – Dorsia: 24K
7. Toy Story – Pizza Planet: 18K
8. Pulp Fiction – Jack Rabbit Slims: 8K
9. Ratatouille – Gusteau: 7K
10. 50 First Dates – The Hukilau Cafe: 4K

Most Successful Cuisine

From Parks and Recreations’ JJ’s Diner to Pulp Fictions’ Jack Rabbit Slims, the most common cuisine featured in the top ten foodie franchises was american diners, which offer quick and easy breakfasts and bulk meals including pancakes and chicken pot pie. In a close second was fast food, which is an obvious favourite irl.

1. American Diners
2. Fast Food, Burgers
3. Fast Food, Chicken
4. Ice Cream Parlour
5. Fine Dining

Top Rated Fictional Franchise

Based on TripAdvisor and Yelp review ratings, each fictional franchise was scored on its average review rating (all based on the selected real world counterparts).

Interestingly, fine dining establishment ‘Dorsia’ from American Psycho, scored exactly the same as Central Perk from Friends, proving that you don’t need silver service to succeed as a fictional foodie franchise.

1. American Psycho – Dorsia – Fine Dining: 4.5*
2. Friends – Central Perk – Coffee Shop: 4.5*
3. Ratatouille – Gusteau – French Fine Dining: 4.5*
4. That 70’s Show – Fatso Burger – Fast Food, Burgers: 4.3*
5. The Vampire Diaries – Mystic Grill – American Bistro: 4.3*

Most Employable Franchise

Using the combined averages of their real-life counterparts, we have found the amount of employee’s that these fictional franchises would have, meaning if you are a food worker looking for a fresh opportunity, you would probably want to head to JJ’s Diner or Los Pollos Hermanos to hand in your resume.

1. Breaking Bad – Los Pollos Hermanos: 39K Employees 
2. Parks and Recreation – JJ’s Diner: 32K Employees 
3. Stranger Things – Scoops Ahoy: 5K Employees 
4. The Simpsons – Krusty Burger: 1.5K Employees
5. Always Sunny in Philadelphia – Paddy’s Irish Pub: 123 Employees 

The Recipe for Success

To figure out the formula for fictional foodie franchises to succeed, we’ve worked out the average criteria of the top 5 based on their real-life counterparts for a fail-safe way to make it to the top if you’re a fictional restaurant.

Rachel Chatterton, Food Development director from Gousto has said: 

“At Gousto, we are on a mission to become the UK’s most loved way to eat dinner. To do this, we need to understand what UK families love and are inspired by, so we can create recipes that work for them.

“There’s a clear link between food and entertainment – they are both highly emotional and our Fictional Foodie Franchise ranking is a fun way to link these, drawing on inspiration from some of the delicious scenes in our favourite television shows.

“Our study shows that there’s no one clear ‘recipe for success’ – it’s much more complex than that and takes into account a number of factors”