LOUISVILLE, Colo. – A new consumer study conducted by Market Force Information reveals America’s favorite quick-service restaurant (QSRs) chains in four food categories: pizza, Mexican, chicken and sandwiches. The survey polled more than 10,000 consumers, revealing their QSR dining habits, brand preferences and use of technology to order and pay.
In the immensely competitive $40 billion pizza industry, Papa Murphy’s reigns as consumers’ favorite chain for the third consecutive year. Pizza Ranch again took the No. 2 spot and Marco’s Pizza landed at No. 3, after not earning enough votes last year to qualify.
The survey found that Little Caesars offers the best value and has the third-fastest service of the chains studied, according to Market Force’s attributes rankings. Meanwhile, Papa Murphy’s ranked first for food quality and led by a large margin in the healthy options category, one of the only areas where the brands weren’t tightly clustered. Pizza Ranch earned top marks for friendly service and atmosphere.
For the first time, Taco Bueno earned enough votes to qualify for Market Force’s QSR study, and it took the top spot in the Mexican category, beating out Chipotle and Qdoba, which tied for first in 2015.
Although Taco Bueno was the favorite in the Mexican food category, it only ranked first in one area: value for the money, a category in which Del Taco was a close second and Qdoba was last out of the brands studied.
Chicken is one of the fastest-growing segments in the QSR space, with appeal for kids and adults alike. In the Market Force study, Chick-fil-A led for the second year with a 77% score, while Raising Cane’s ranked second with 70%, Zaxby’s third with 63%, Bojangles’ fourth with 60% and El Pollo Loco fifth with 59%. Wingstop dropped slightly in the rankings, while Church’s Chicken made substantial gains, jumping 16 percentage points over 2015.
Category-leader Chick-fil-A captured the top spot in nearly every attribute that Market Force studied, including food quality, fast and friendly service, atmosphere and cleanliness. Raising Cane’s, a fast-growing chicken finger chain, was the value leader and ranked second in every other area but one. El Pollo Loco was recognized for offering the healthiest food options, followed by Chick-fil-A and Boston Market. KFC scored last out of the brands studied on four of the seven measures.
“In the fast-growing QSR industry, chicken chains must embrace every opportunity to differentiate and pull ahead of the flock,” said Cheryl Flink, chief strategy officer for Market Force Information. “Our research reveals that there’s room for chicken brands to differentiate by building their loyalty card programs, increasing their app usage and adding more healthy menu options.”
Even though there are more QSR cuisines and options, diners are still lining up for sandwiches for many of their meals, and McAlister’s takes the top spot in the segment. It beat out Firehouse Subs, which ranked second, followed by Jersey Mike’s and Panera. Last year’s favorite, Jason’s Deli, fell four spots to fifth place.
No one brand dominated the attributes in the sandwich category. When it came to food, Jason’s Deli was tops for quality and Panera for healthfulness. Convenience store chain Wawa ranked highest for value, and will continue to put pressure on the sandwich category. Jimmy John’s far outpaced the others for speed of service.
Significantly more diners are picking up tablets to place their orders at QSRs. Twenty-two percent said they have ordered using a tablet in the previous 90 days, up 340% from 2015. Twenty-three percent used a mobile app and 16% used a kiosk. Still, most favor placing their orders in person: 30% said they prefer ordering via tech and 70% said they prefer ordering at the counter.