Consumer Research: Fast-Food Chains Get Their Props Customer satisfaction in the fast-food industry as a whole has improved.
Consumer Research: Fast-Food Chains Get Their Props
Customer satisfaction in the fast-food industry as a whole has improved.
– Chain Leader, 3/1/2009
In-N-Out Burger
Is fast food getting better, or are tough times making customers look at them differently? It doesn’t matter if it’s true that perception is everything.
According to research by San Clemente, Calif.-based research firm Sandelman & Associates, customer satisfaction in the fast-food industry as a whole has improved. In 2008, 13 percent of QSRs posted statistically significant improvement in customer satisfaction compared with 2007.
The top chain is In-N-Out Burger, which won Sandelman & Associates’ 2008 Quick-Track Award of Excellence. Fully 60 percent of customers rated their last visit “excellent.” The Irvine, Calif.-based hamburger chain also received the highest scores on taste, quality of ingredients, friendliness of the staff, accuracy in filling orders, and being “a place for someone like me.” In fact, In-N-Out finished in the Top 3 on eight of 15 attributes tracked.
The Top 10 Chains Rated “Excellent” Overall in Sandelman & Associates’ Quick-Track Study
1. In-N-Out Burger 60%
2. Raising Cane’s 59%
3. Giordano’s Pizza 56%
4. Chick-fil-A 55%
5. Panera Bread 54%
6. Chipotle 52%
7. Pei Wei 51%
8. Firehouse Subs 51%
9. Taco Tote 50%
10. Qdoba 49%
Source: Sandelman & Associate 
Consumer Research: Fast-Food Chains Get Their Props Customer satisfaction in the fast-food industry as a whole has improved.
Consumer Research: Fast-Food Chains Get Their Props
Customer satisfaction in the fast-food industry as a whole has improved.
– Chain Leader, 3/1/2009
In-N-Out Burger
Is fast food getting better, or are tough times making customers look at them differently? It doesn’t matter if it’s true that perception is everything.
According to research by San Clemente, Calif.-based research firm Sandelman & Associates, customer satisfaction in the fast-food industry as a whole has improved. In 2008, 13 percent of QSRs posted statistically significant improvement in customer satisfaction compared with 2007.
The top chain is In-N-Out Burger, which won Sandelman & Associates’ 2008 Quick-Track Award of Excellence. Fully 60 percent of customers rated their last visit “excellent.” The Irvine, Calif.-based hamburger chain also received the highest scores on taste, quality of ingredients, friendliness of the staff, accuracy in filling orders, and being “a place for someone like me.” In fact, In-N-Out finished in the Top 3 on eight of 15 attributes tracked.
The Top 10 Chains Rated “Excellent” Overall in Sandelman & Associates’ Quick-Track Study
1. In-N-Out Burger 60%
2. Raising Cane’s 59%
3. Giordano’s Pizza 56%
4. Chick-fil-A 55%
5. Panera Bread 54%
6. Chipotle 52%
7. Pei Wei 51%
8. Firehouse Subs 51%
9. Taco Tote 50%
10. Qdoba 49%
Source: Sandelman & Associate
Jun 9, 2009
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers
Minneapolis, MN
I’ve been about a week behind on these things so I will try to catch up.
On the last day of May, the wife and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and do some outdoor activities at The U. We needed to get some lunch first. My wife wanted to go to Raising Cane’s. She had been there before. I had not.
There are 3 locations in the Twin Cities area. This one is right on Washington Avenue on the campus of the University of Minnesota. They essentially have 4 items on the menu, which are basically 3, 4, and 6 finger meals and a chicken finger sandwich meal. It’s just chicken fingers, fries, coleslaw, and toast. The chicken fingers are made fresh when you order them and come out to you extremely hot. We both ordered The Box, which is 4 fingers, fries, coleslaw, Texas toast, and a thing of Cane’s sauce. We were informed that we could substitute items so we both got another thing of sauce instead of the coleslaw.
It only took a few minutes before our food was ready. The first thing we did was try to tear open the fingers so they could cool faster, but that was hard enough to do because of how hot they were. Eventually they cooled down to a tolerable level. The chicken fingers were very moist, not dried out in the least, and the breading (or batter… probably) was very light yet crispy and very good. These chicken fingers weren’t overwhelmed with a thick, hard breading. I don’t think I could name any better chicken fingers that I’ve had. The fries were your standard crinkle cut fries. The Cane’s sauce is also tasty. Although, I liked it better on the fries than on the chicken. The chicken was so good that it would be a shame to use too much sauce on them, so I would lightly dip them. It goes really well on fries. The Texas toast is pretty awesome too; buttery and clearly toasted on a flattop. I recommend this place for any chicken finger cravings… or Texas toast cravings.
The story behind the place is pretty neat. The founder submitted the business plan for a chicken finger restaurant for a class assignment in college and got a bad grade on it. His professor didn’t think it would work and the banks weren’t too thrilled about it either. He then worked as a boilermaker in L.A. and a salmon fisherman in Alaska after that to raise the money for it. He opened his first place at LSU and it was an instant success.
Posted by Josh at 12:09 PM
Labels: Chicken, Minnesota, Restaurants, Twin Cities
Customer Satisfaction up at Fast-Food Restaurant Chains Fast-food lives up to expectations for cash-strapped consumers.
Customer Satisfaction up at Fast-Food Restaurant Chains
Fast-food lives up to expectations for cash-strapped consumers.
– Chain Leader, 1/26/2009 9:19:00 AM
PRESS RELEASE: SAN CLEMENTE, CALIF. – At a time when consumers are looking for ways to get more bang for their bucks, the fast-food industry as a whole has improved customer satisfaction. In 2008, 13 percent of fast-food chains posted statistically significant improvement in customer satisfaction compared with 2007. Over half of monitored fast-food chains had a higher overall customer satisfaction rating compared with 2007, according to restaurant researcher Sandelman & Associates.
Regional fast-food brands, such as In-N-Out Burger, Raising Cane’s, Firehouse Subs, Taco Tote, Giordano’s Pizza and Pei Wei, continue to capture the highest customer satisfaction ratings, according to Sandelman & Associates.
In-N-Out Burger, the hamburger chain in a few Western states with an oversized cult following, receives top honors in Sandelman & Associates’ 2008 Quick-Track Awards of Excellence. Impressively, 60 percent of recent customers rated their last visit “excellent” overall. Raising Cane’s finished a close second. A fast-casual upstart that is poised to grow rapidly, Raising Cane’s specializes in providing high-quality fried chicken tenders and a variety of dipping sauces in a comfortable, casual setting. Raising Cane’s has a small base of users compared with the fast-food giants, but 59 percent of those who recently patronized the chain rated their last visit “excellent” overall. In all, 141 quick-service chains were monitored by Sandelman & Associates in 2008.
The Top 10 chains rated “Excellent” overall in Sandelman & Associates’ Quick-Track study are:
Quick-Service Restaurant Chain Home Base
% “excellent” overall rating for last occasion
1. In-N-Out Burger, Irvine, Calif. 60%
2. Raising Cane’s, Baton Rouge, La. 59%
3. Giordano’s Pizza, Chicago 56%
4. Chick-fil-A, Atlanta 55%
5. Panera Bread, St. Louis 54%
6. Chipotle, Denver 52%
7. Pei Wei, Scottsdale, Ariz. 51%
8. Firehouse Subs, Jacksonville, Fla. 51%
9. Taco Tote, El Paso, Texas 50%
10. Qdoba, Wheat Ridge, Colo. 49%
“Clearly fast-food users are very satisfied with the overall dining experience,” says Bob Sandelman, CEO and founder of Sandelman & Associates. “Our Awards of Excellence winners, many of whom are smaller, regional brands, are raising the bar for the fast-food giants. And this customer satisfaction improvement is just what the economy ordered.”
Awards of Excellence are given not only for overall satisfaction but also for different aspects of the dining experience, such as taste of the food, speed of service and value for the money. Southern California’s In-N-Out Burger maintains its cultlike following partly because of its tasty food: the chain has the highest “excellent” rating on taste of the food. But it also garners toprated scores for quality of the ingredients, friendliness of the staff, accuracy in filling orders, and being “a place for someone like me.” In all, In-N-Out finished in the Top 3 on eight of 15 attributes tracked.
The chain with the most U.S. units, Subway, earns top rating for healthy and nutritious food. Sales leader McDonald’s is best when it comes to appeal to kids. Little Caesars garners the top spot for value and affordability.
Upstart Raising Cane’s shines when it comes to service, garnering Top 3 “excellent” ratings on temperature of the food and accuracy in filling orders. Firehouse Subs, a sub sandwich favorite in the Southeast, finishes in the Top 3 on four characteristics: Taste or flavor of the food, quality of the ingredients, appeal to kids and temperature of the food.
The awards are based on the quarterly syndicated Quick-Track(r) research program conducted by Sandelman & Associates, a San Clemente, Calif.-based market research firm that tracks consumer trends for the restaurant industry. The Quick-Track Awards of Excellence are based on ratings provided by the study’s respondents on fast-food chains they visited in the past three months. In all, Quick-Track surveyed more than 93,800 quick-service restaurant users in 75 U.S. markets during 2008.
About The Study
Quick-Track(r) is a syndicated research study that tracks key consumer behavioral and attitudinal measures for all major fast-food and pizza chains in individual markets. This research program has been conducted on a quarterly basis since 1988 by Sandelman & Associates, a San Clemente, Calif.-based market research firm. During 2008, Quick-Track surveys were conducted in 75 major markets across the U.S. among a total sample of 93,800 fast-food users. Respondents provide an overall rating of their last purchase occasion for each tracked chain they have patronized in the past three months. They also rate selected chains they have patronized in the past three months on 15 key attributes that define a chain’s image, including food, service, cleanliness, convenience and value. A five-point rating scale is used, with “1″ being “poor” and “5″ being “excellent.” The scores reported equal the percentage of patrons giving an “excellent” rating (top-box score). To ensure reliability, data is reported only for those chains that were rated by at least 150 past-three month users. For some chains, the sample of respondents providing an overall rating was sufficient, but the base providing ratings on specific attributes was below the 150 minimum requirement and attribute ratings for those chains are not included in the report. Importance ratings for the same 15 attributes are provided by the quarterly Quick-Track National study, which was conducted among 2,400 quick-service restaurant users in 2008. Respondents rate the importance of each attribute in their selection of a fast-food or pizza restaurant, with “1″ being “not at all important” and “5″ being “extremely important.”
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