Consumers don’t really seem to like McDonald’s. Does that matter?

McDonald’s has been in the public eye even more than usual the last couple weeks, starting with its heavily publicized investor day and culminating in a controversial report that the company uses AI to set prices (McDonald’s denies this, consumers are mad anyway).

The general consumer sentiment right now feels pretty negative. The "Next" modernization strategy was met with cries to simply improve the food and lower the prices. (Operators know there’s nothing simple about it).

This made me curious as to whether the general vibe around McDonald’s matches up with actual Technomic Consumer data. And if sentiment is really that bad… does it actually even matter if people say they don’t like the biggest restaurant company?

I found out last week when investigating Wendy’s that that company actually outranks McDonald’s on overall sentiment, and indeed McDonald’s lags 11.3 percentage points behind its QSR burger peers’ average score. McDonald’s also scores relatively poorly on food quality, taste, and visual appeal (though consumers do love the coffee); service; and order accuracy — at least 13 points behind the competitive average on each of those metrics.

McDonald’s also scores very poorly on value, and I was curious about this, since it seems to me no one is doing particularly great on that front right now, as far as the consumer is concerned. If you're curious too, the three highest-rated limited-service burger chains for overall value (for Q2 2025 through Q1 2026) were In-N-Out, Cook Out, and Rally’s. McDonald’s sits at No. 21.

Where McDonald’s thrives (and it does have more than two strengths identified, unlike Wendy’s) is on marketing. Consumers say it’s memorable, introduces new and exciting products, and has advertising they can relate to. It also scores well on “supports local community activities” and “is socially responsible.”

It’s interesting that the marketing is resonating, since as we know, McDonald’s invested a ton into that a few years ago and then backed all the way off. Maybe it’s time to bring back KPop collabs.

So overall consumers are not so hot on McDonald’s, but does that really matter? After all, the company did more than $55 billion in sales last year at nearly 14,000 locations. Burger King claims to be coming for the crown (pun intended), but it has quite a ways to go. And the marketing and menu innovation seems to keep people coming back, even if they're grumpy about it. (Grumpy money is actually worth the same as happy money, it turns out).

The truth is, McDonald’s may be the one restaurant company too big to be taken down with a PR scandal like the alleged AI pricing. No matter how people feel about the chain, it’s always going to be on the next block with a Quarter Pounder that tastes like every other one you’ve ever had, and the kids are always going to clamor for McNuggets and a Happy Meal Toy.

Last week I said, “big does not equal beloved.” And that is true, but in this case… big does equal stable and generally safeguarded.

No doubt, I hope they straighten out the pricing communication and that Next is a smashing success. But either way, McDonald’s will be just fine.

Leigh Anne Zinsmeister is a managing editor for Informa’s Foodservice Media, encompassing Restaurant Business, Nation's Restaurant News, and Foodservice Director.