Chick-fil-A Franchise: Restaurant Ranks Supreme in New Study

For Chick-fil-A, six days a week is more than enough time to make an impression. The chicken franchise was recently ranked the runaway category winner for the best chicken experience in a Quick Serve Restaurant (QSR), according to Market Force Information’s new 2022 QSR/Fast Casual Study.

“Chick-fil-A is the clear leader with a standout performance as the consumer favorite across all brands in the study, and also winning in the chicken category,” said Phil Doriot, vice president of customer success and analytics for Market Force, in a statement. “Leadership is built by high customer satisfaction and trust. We see this in the data and analytics we share with our clients, and Chick-fil-A’s performance is a clear example.”

The study asked over 5,000 consumers to rate their most recent restaurant experience on various factors — including satisfaction, technology, cleanliness, etc. — and used those responses to rank America’s 53 top brands based on cuisine category and customer favor. The chicken category, for example, features Bojangles, Boston Market, Chick-fil-A, Church’s Chicken, El Pollo Loco, KFC, Popeyes, Raising Cane’s, Wingstop and Zaxby’s.

Customer satisfaction ratings

Overall satisfaction is calculated in the survey through five factors: food quality, restaurant atmosphere, service speed, friendliness of the staff and the value received for money spent. Chick-fil-A franchise restaurants swept the chicken category with a satisfaction score of 84%, the study shows, with Raising Cane’s and El Pollo Loco following somewhat close behind with 73% and 63%. KFC’s scored only 43% in customer satisfaction, and Church’s Chicken ranked the lowest with a score of 39%.

Chick-fil-A also dominated the three rankings of Quality, Service and Cleanliness, scoring 84% for food quality, 88% for staff friendliness and a near-perfect 91% for cleanliness.

When it comes to the Customer Loyalty Index (CLI), which combines customer satisfaction with the likelihood of recommending the brand to others, Chick-fil-A not only took the top spot in the chicken category, but also across all categories with a Customer Loyalty Index of 4.77. Raising Cane’s ranked second in the chicken category with a score of 4.60.

Loyalty and retention

Share of Wallet, which is described as “an expression of transactional loyalty between brand and consumer, reflecting how often a customer will return to a brand in the near future, as opposed to visiting its competitors,” was also led by Chick-fil-A with a score of 58%.

This certainly isn’t the first time Chick-fil-A has proven itself to be a uniquely beloved brand amongst the general public. Last year, the chicken franchise ranked higher than all other quick-service restaurants in regards to ‘brand intimacy’ during the pandemic, according to MBLM's Brand Intimacy COVID study, its second year in the number one spot.

The chain has been known to make customer service a priority and has been named the top limited-service restaurant on the American Customer Satisfaction Index for six straight years. In 2019, Chick-fil-A ranked as the top fast-food brand in terms of creating emotional engagement and loyalty, according to Brand Keys. The chain was also ranked the top QSR for sincerity, excitement and competence, according to Zion & Zion.