Every chain has a map on the wall at headquarters with pins in it. This is the opposite map: for twenty of America's biggest roadside brands, we found the single longest stretch of interstate you can drive without seeing them at a single exit.
Call it the Chain Gap Index. It measures the edge of each empire — and it turns out most empires end in the same place.
KFC's longest gap in America is 505 miles of it. Chipotle's: 505. Cracker Barrel's: 473. Taco Bell's: 473. Whataburger — a Texas company — goes dark for 473 miles of its own home state. Panera holds the overall record at 537 miles, roughly the distance from New York City to Detroit, with not one Panera at an exit.
| Brand | Longest gap | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Panera Bread | 537 mi | I-10, Texas |
| KFC | 505 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Chipotle | 505 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Cracker Barrel | 473 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Taco Bell | 473 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Whataburger | 473 mi | I-10, Texas (its home state) |
| Dunkin' | 471 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Sonic | 440 mi | I-5, California |
| Starbucks | 421 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Chick-fil-A | 395 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Wendy's | 386 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Arby's | 354 mi | I-80, Wyoming |
| Dairy Queen | 339 mi | I-25, New Mexico |
| Burger King | 336 mi | I-90, South Dakota |
| Culver's | 272 mi | I-90, South Dakota |
| In-N-Out | 268 mi | I-15, Utah |
| McDonald's | 199 mi | I-10, Texas |
| Waffle House | 194 mi | I-70, Kansas |
| Buc-ee's | 166 mi | I-75, Georgia |
| Subway | 140 mi | I-90, Montana |
McDonald's is the most complete empire in America. Across 4,292 interstate exits, its worst gap anywhere is 199 miles — and even that is in the West Texas void. Subway is the most evenly spread: with 4,316 exits, you can never drive more than 140 miles on a primary interstate without one, and its record gap isn't even in Texas (it's Montana, where Subway still shows up in towns nothing else bothers with).
Sonic's record is the strangest. Its 440-mile gap runs down I-5 through the heart of California — not empty desert but one of the busiest corridors in the country. Sonic simply never conquered the valley. And In-N-Out's 268-mile Utah gap is the drive between St. George and the Salt Lake City suburbs: enter Utah with a Double-Double, then nothing until Draper.
Waffle House's gap is not where you think. Its border with the North is famous, but its longest east-west silence is I-70 across Kansas: 194 miles of wheat with no hash browns at any exit.
The 500-mile stretch of I-10 between El Paso and the Hill Country is the great filter of American franchising. Towns are 60 to 100 miles apart, and most are too small to support a national chain's unit economics. Eleven of twenty brands set their record there. The road itself is magnificent. Bring snacks.