No longer the world’s largest fast-food chain?

Both McDonald's and Subway have been pursuing aggressive international expansion, and Subway, in terms of locations, has finally caught up with its arch rival. But this is really comparing apples and oranges, because the number of units is a poor measure of success. Rather, one should look at market share and profitability, which are both dominated by McDonald's, both on the corporate and franchisee side. 

Here's the latest from (Crain's) — McDonald’s Corp. is no longer the world’s largest fast-food chain — at least, in the number of restaurants.

Subway sandwich shops outnumbered Golden Arches worldwide at the end of 2010, with 33,749, compared with 32,737 McDonald’s outlets, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Subway has been gaining on McDonald's for a while. In 2009, McDonald’s had just 402 restaurants more than Subway, according to Chicago-based Technomic Inc.

In the U.S., Subway has long been more ubiquitous than McDonald’s, surpassing the Oak Brook-based fast-food giant in 2002. The sub chain is owned by Doctor’s Associates Inc. of Milford, Conn.

In 2009 — the most recent figures available from restaurant industry tracker Technomic — McDonald's had 13,980 U.S. restaurants to Subway's 23,034.