35% Think This Fast-Food Chain Has The Worst Fish Sandwich
Fish sandwiches have swam their way to the menus of various fast food chains, with many of them rolling out seasonally in the late winter. According to Marker, there is no clear explanation of why large fast food corporations begin offering the dish around this time, but it likely has something to do with lent — a 40-day fasting period observed in the Catholic faith, per the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
During lent, Catholics must abstain from eating meat on Fridays. Per Marker, restaurant seafood sales typically rise by 20% during lent, so it only makes sense for fish-based dishes to make their return during the period between Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday. In fact, the story of serving fish sandwiches to Catholic consumers began with McDonald's. When store owner Lou Groen noticed a decrease in menu sales on Fridays, he passed the idea of a fish sandwich onto Ray Kroc. In 1965, it was introduced to the menu as the Filet-O-Fish.
With so many menus featuring fish sandwiches, it's only right that we let regular customers cast their votes on their favorites — and least favorites in the fast food industry.
They aren't loving it
Despite McDonald's being the first one to introduce the fish sandwich trend, its classic Filet-O-Fish was ranked the worst by 34.90% of consumers in a study of 553 United States' respondents. Among the best fish sandwiches on the list were from Culver's, with 9.58% of people disliking it, and Long John Silver's, with 9.40% of the negative responses.
The second worst of the study came from Arby's, at 19.53%. Checkers scored 14.47% of unfavorable reviews with Wendy's coming in at 12.12%, respectively.
According to Marker, the Filet-O-Fish was McDonald's first non-beef option ever sold, and although it didn't rank favorably in this study, the franchise sells a whopping 300 million fish sandwiches a year, with about 75 million purchased during lent alone. Per Reader's Digest, it's made with Alaskan Pollock and graces the menu year round to accommodate those who prefer not to eat beef or chicken.
With sales like these, it's obvious that some people find the Filet-O-Fish delicious, and it seems to be here to stay.