Restaurant Brands International Inc. (QSR)

Restaurant franchisor, 53,500 people, 91% in company restaurants. Read October 2, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 20, 2026. Ranked 43 of the 54 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

The filing counts its people by restaurants, corporate and distribution and by country, so every share is a stated count (a); franchisees' crews are outside under rule 8.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 12% now, 15% at the end of 2027, 16% at the end of 2028, 17% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 17% desk work, 22% people work and 62% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 83% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 12% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

53,500 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). Approximately 33,700 in the United States, 2,100 in Canada and 17,700 based internationally.

The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 53,500 employees, including approximately 3,400 corporate employees in our restaurant support centers and serving our franchisees from the field, approximately 1,300 employees in our distribution centers and manufacturing facilities, and approximately 48,900 employees in Company restaurants.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: 48,900 in Company restaurants, 3,400 corporate in restaurant support centers and the field, 1,300 in distribution centers and manufacturing; 33,700 in the U.S., 2,100 in Canada, 17,700 international; about 600 new corporate and 200 new distribution and manufacturing employees hired in 2025; franchisees separately employ the team members in their restaurants.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Restaurants and Other Eating Places, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

• Starbucks (SBUX, 381,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC, 290,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Darden (DRI, 209,931 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
• McDonald's Corporation (MCD, 150,000 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG, 130,301 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Brinker International, Inc. (EAT, 85,003 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL, 74,500 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

7 sentences in the filing name AI. Seven sentences: AI tools among the technology the company says it leverages to enhance the guest experience, including the drive-thru and how guests order and pay, and data analytics including AI and machine learning named as a capability whose absence could hurt the business.

• “We are continuing to leverage technology, including artificial intelligence tools, to enhance the overall guest experience, including by modernizing the drive-thru experience and expanding the choices for how guests order, pay for, and receive their food.”
• “Government Regulations and Affairs We and our franchisees are subject to various national, federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulations, including but not limited to laws and regulations relating to (i) licensing, food preparation (including manufacture, labeling, packaging, traceability, and safety of food), menu-labeling, and sustainability; (ii) public accommodation, design, ac...”
• “Similarly, if we do not continuously strengthen our data analytics (including artificial intelligence and machine learning) capabilities to understand and grow consumer interest, our business could be negatively impacted.”
• “Franchisees and sub-franchisees may not operate restaurants in a manner consistent with our established procedures, standards, and requirements or standards set by applicable law, including sanitation and pest control standards, or data processing, privacy, 17 Table of Contents artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity requirements.”
• “General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act, the China Personal Information Protection Law, and other laws governing data protection, the use of biometric data, and artificial intelligence.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20231median 1
• Fiscal 20242median 4
• Fiscal 20257median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• Franchisees' restaurant employees are not the company's and are left out (rule 8); the 53,500 is the company's own.
• The 1,300 in distribution and manufacturing have no split between the two; all in warehousing.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001618756-26-000017, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.