From Chick-fil-A and KFC to Taco Bell and Jack in the Box, the American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its 2023 ranking of America’s favorite fast food chains.
Calling all fast food lovers: the solution is to the best chain in the nation.
November 16 is National Fast Food Day, honoring our favorite fast food and burger joints.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index recently released the 2023 Best Fast Food Restaurants based on customer satisfaction and feedback.
Wondering where your favorite place ranks or just looking for a good player to choose where to dine tonight? See the lists below.
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How the rankings were determined
The American Customer Satisfaction Index collects information from 500,000 customers interviewed annually and feeds it into a multi-equation model developed at the University of Michigan. Unlike other organizations that measure things like revenue and customer volume or purchases per year, the American Customer Satisfaction Index is unique in its focus on customer experience and satisfaction.
This year’s restaurant survey is based on interviews with 16,250 randomly selected customers contacted by email between April 2022 and March 2023.
According to the survey, customers are most interested in a number of experiences and components related to customer service. In ranked order they are:
- Food order accuracy
- The quality of the mobile application
- Mobile app reliability (minimal downtime, crashes, delays)
- Beverage quality (taste, temperature)
- Politeness and helpfulness of the staff
- Food quality (taste, temperature, freshness of ingredients)
- Satisfaction with the website
- Restaurant layout and cleanliness
- Checkout or delivery speed
- A variety of drinks on the menu
- Variety of food on the menu
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Top Five Fast Food Restaurants for Customer Satisfaction in 2023
When it comes to customer satisfaction, Chick-fil-A ranks first, closely followed by Jimmy John’s.
- Chick-fil-A with a satisfaction score of 85, up 2% from last year
- Jimmy John’s at 84, up 6% from 2022
- KFC with 81 customer satisfaction scores, up 4%
- Papa John with a score of 80, which is 5% more than last year
- Domino remained consistent with 78 in satisfaction
- The list also included an “Everyone else” third-place category for restaurants not listed, scoring 82
The Five Lowest Fast Food Restaurants by Customer Satisfaction in 2023
Of the chains included in the index, McDonald’s customers are the least satisfied, followed by Taco Bell and Sonic. Jack in the Box and Wendy’s round out the bottom five.
- Wendy there were 74 satisfaction scores, up 1% from last year
- Jack in the box weighs in at 73, also up 1% from 2022
- Sonic saw a 2% drop in satisfaction, going from 74 to 72
- Taco Bell also went from 72 to 71, down 1%.
- McDonald’s fell to the bottom of the list at 69, up one spot from last year
Complete ranked list
The survey found that America’s favorite fast food chain is Chick-fil-A, which has a satisfaction score of 85, a 2% improvement over last year. Here’s how your other favorite and not-so-favorite chains ranked:
- Chick-fil-A∘ Result in 2023: 85∘ Result in 2022: 83
- Jimmy John’s ∘ Result in 2023: 84∘ Result in 2022: 79
- KFC∘ Score in 2023: 81∘ Score in 2022: 78
- Papa John’s∘ Result in 2023: 80∘ Result in 2022: 76
- Domino∘ Result in 2023: 78∘ Result in 2022: 78
- Five boys∘ Result in 2023: 78∘ Result in 2022: 76
- Pizza Hut∘ Result in 2023: 78∘ Result in 2022: 77
- Starbucks∘ Result in 2023: 78∘ Result in 2022: 77
- Arby’s ∘ Result in 2023: 77∘ Result in 2022: 76
- Dunkin∘ Result in 2023: 77∘ Result in 2022: 74
- Panda Express∘ Result in 2023: 77∘ Result in 2022: 75
- Burger King∘ Result in 2023: 76∘ Result in 2022: 75
- Panera bread∘ Result in 2023: 76∘ Result in 2022: 77
- Chipotle ∘ Result in 2023: 75∘ Result in 2022: 77
- Dairy Queen∘ Result in 2023: 75∘ Result in 2022: 74
- Subway ∘ Result in 2023: 75∘ Result in 2022: 75
- Little Caesars ∘ Score in 2023: 74∘ Score in 2022: 75
- Popeye∘ Result in 2023: 74∘ Result in 2022: 71
- Wendy ∘ Result in 2023: 74∘ Result in 2022: 73
- Jack in the box∘ Result in 2023: 73∘ Result in 2022: 72
- Sonic∘ Result in 2023: 72∘ Result in 2022: 74
- Taco Bell ∘ Result in 2023: 71∘ Result in 2022: 72
- McDonald’s∘ Result in 2023: 69∘ Result in 2022: 68