The Title Chick-Fil-A Has Retained For The Eighth Straight Year
Each year, the American Customer Satisfaction Index looks at a variety of industries and economic sectors, weighing more than 400 companies against one another and scoring companies on 0-to-100 scales based on data compiled from interviews with actual customers. The resulting reports and ratings show which companies are performing best according to real consumers. Recently, the index released its 2021–2022 report on customer satisfaction at both full-service and fast food restaurants and one chain stood above all the rest: the popular chicken perveyor Chick-fil-A.
While the index reported that customer satisfaction is stable at most full-service restaurants (think chains like Texas Roadhouse or Cracker Barrel), satisfaction is down at many fast food restaurants, according to a recent press release. Despite the overall success of full-service restaurants over fast food restaurants, though, Chick-fil-A has managed to outrank every other restaurant that the index rates, regardless of the type of establishment.
Chick-fil-A vs. everyone else
For the eighth straight year, Chick-fil-A is the top-rated American Customer Satisfaction Index restaurant with a score of 83 points. While Chick-fil-A's 83-point score may seem not-terribly-impressive (an 83% is, after all, a B-minus), it is impressive that the chain has managed to stay ahead of all other competitors — fast food or otherwise — since 2014. So how does everyone else stack up?
Jimmy John's, which was added to the American Customer Satisfaction Index for the first time this year, according to the press release, came in second among quick service restaurants, with a score of 79. Domino's and KFC tied for third place in the category, with scores of 78. A handful of full-service restaurants scored higher than these three brands, but still not as high as Chick-fil-A; LongHorn Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse tied for first place among full-service restaurants, with scores of 80 each. Cracker Barrel and TGI Fridays took second place with scores of 78, while Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, and Red Robin took third place, all with scores of 77.
Scores were based on responses from email surveys conducted with the help of more than 20,000 random participants, from April 2021 to March 2022.