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Study Names Top QSR Chains

Chick-fil-A is the best-rated quick-service restaurant chain out of of 148 ranked in Sandelman & Assoc.’s Quick-Track 2014 annual study Awards of Excellence.

As part of the study, QSR customers in 2014 rated their most recent visits to QSR chains overall on a 5-point scale, and they rated chains they’ve recently patronized on 16 customer satisfaction attributes. Awards of Excellence are based on the proportion of respondents who rate a chain “excellent” (“5” on a 5-point scale). This past year, nearly 100,000 Quick-Track respondents rated the chains they patronized.

2014 Top 10 Excellent Fast-Food Chains (Overall Satisfaction)

Top 10 Quick-Service Restaurant Chains (all chains) 

1. Chick-fil-A
2. In-N-Out Burger
3. The Habit Burger Grill
4. Capriotti's Sandwich Shop
4. Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers
6. CC's Coffee House
6. Café Zupas
8. Café Rio Mexican Grill
8. Five Guys Burger & Fries
8. Firehouse Subs 

Top 10 Large Quick-Service Restaurant Chains (500+ units)

1. Chick-fil-A
2. Five Guys Burger & Fries
2. Firehouse Subs
4. Chipotle Mexican Grill
5. Panera Bread
6. Zaxby's
7. Papa Murphy's
8. Jersey Mike's Submarines
9. Culver's
9. Starbucks

Sandelman presents Awards of Excellence for overall satisfaction and for the best performances on 16 attributes of the QSR dining experience. Chick-fil-A took home several of these awards, too: it was the No. 1 best-rated QSR on seven of 16 customer satisfaction attributes. Notably, Chick-fil-A was No. 1 on “appeal to kids,” besting longtime leader McDonald’s.

In-N-Out Burger was among the Top 3 best-rated chains on seven attributes and Raising Cane’s was Top 3 on five characteristics. In an unparalleled run for the seventh consecutive year Little Caesars garnered the top spot for “affordability of the prices” and “value for the money.” Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, based in Las Vegas, placed No. 1 on attributes “taste and flavor of the food” and “quality of the ingredients.”