America's Favorite Drive Thrus, Ranked

    Who’s America’s favorite drive thru? FoodserviceResults studied consumer satisfaction across a range of metrics like speed, accuracy, and customer service at 17 limited-service companies. Taking all metrics into account, the winner is perhaps no surprise: Chick-fil-A gave the most satisfaction in every category except Menu Item Availability. While its lines may be long, there’s no denying Chick-fil-A is a step above when it comes to drive-thru service—and customers notice. (The below figures represent percentage of customers who were highly or somewhat satisfied by brand drive-thru experiences.)

    brand overall experience speed of service friendliness of staff cleanliness and sanitation menu item availability quality of menu items ordered order accuracy
    Chick-fil-A 93 93 94 93 92 94 95
    Arby's 91 91 87 82 93 92 91
    Culver's 91 91 90 88 89 90 89
    Panera Bread 91 89 92 93 91 92 91
    Dunkin' 90 89 89 88 87 88 87
    Wendy's 90 90 86 84 90 91 90
    Dairy Queen 89 89 87 82 88 89 92
    Hardee's/Carl's Jr. 89 88 86 84 89 87 90
    Starbucks 89 87 90 90 88 91 93
    Burger King 87 86 82 76 88 88 88
    Checkers/Rally's 86 86 76 78 86 89 84
    Taco Bell 86 86 85 83 88 84 88
    Jack in the Box 84 84 84 81 88 84 84
    Bojangles 83 85 81 76 85 89 89
    McDonald's 83 85 82 81 84 85 84
    KFC 82 81 82 79 83 84 83
    Popeyes 80 80 80 78 82 85 85

     

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    2020 QSR drive-thru performance study Methodology

    The FoodserviceResults team conducted a comprehensive, nationally representative survey of drive-thru consumers in the U.S. using an online survey sample. Participants in the research were screened for frequency of use as well as numerous demographic characteristics in order to ensure that the respondent base was reflective of the U.S. drive-thru market.

    Leveraging insights from numerous industry experts, the finalized survey was completed among 1,007 drive-thru consumers during fieldwork. To ensure a relevant respondent base was achieved, all participants were screened to include those who had at least one drive-thru occasion in the last 30 days. An extensive cross tabulation of the respondent sample data was conducted in order to identify major trends, demographic/behavioral themes, and other nuances in the data.