Mashed Survey: Which Southern Fast Food Chain Do You Wish Was Nationwide?
The South is responsible for a lot of good foods like Tex Mex and Southern fried chicken and it's also where a lot of nationwide fast food chains started. You may be familiar with Popeyes, Smoothie King, KFC, Chick-Fil-A, and Sonic. While some are more obviously southern — such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen — they all share a southern starting location.
However, there are plenty of other fast food places that for one reason or another haven't managed to make it to every state in the US. But that doesn't mean they're not admired everywhere. People may have discovered them on their travels around the country or have been told how good they are from interstate family and friends. Mashed conducted a survey and asked 582 participants which southern fast food chains they really wanted to see in other parts of the country.
Out of the five fast food chains in the survey, Cook Out came in at last place with 11.51% of votes. This restaurant, which serves hamburgers and milkshakes, is currently only located in ten states including Maryland, Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Next, in fourth place, was Zaxby's at 12.71%. Founded in Georgia, this chicken chain has over 900 locations but is only available in 17 states.
Bojangles scored third place with 17.01% of votes. Another fried chicken and biscuit joint, this one was founded in North Carolina back in 1977 and has over 700 outlets in 14 states.
The top two were pretty close
The top two fast food restaurants that people really wanted to see in the rest of the country may come as no surprise. Waffle House came in second place with nearly 27% of the vote. While this restaurant was founded in Georgia back in 1955, it differs from many of the others on the list with its menu items including waffles, hashbrowns, omelets, and southern pecan pie. With over 2000 locations it also covers more states than the others in the survey — currently 25 to be exact.
The most popular, in first place, is Whataburger at 31.96%. If you ever look at the chain's social media page, you'll often see people requesting a Whataburger in their location.
Hailing from Corpus Christi, Texas, this chain has over 800 locations in mostly southern states with a majority of those outlets being in Texas. However, those craving the burger and fries selection from the chain in other national areas may be in luck as the restaurant now belongs to Chicago company, BDT Capital Partners.