Dive Brief:
- Chick-fil-A led fast food brands in diner satisfaction in 2024, its 11th consecutive year as segment leader, with a score of 83 on a 100-point scale, according to American Consumer Satisfaction Index Restaurant and Food Delivery Study 2025.
- KFC faced an erosion of its customer satisfaction, down 5% to 77, as other chicken chains — like Raising Cane’s, Wingstop and Popeyes — gained ground on both Yum Brands and on Chick-fil-A.
- ACSI found satisfaction with QSRs held steady at 79 and full-service satisfaction fell 2%, down to 82. Scores across many categories for QSRs declined slightly, indicating consumer hesitancy, though the overall customer experience was largely unchanged.
Dive Insight:
Chains other than KFC also dipped in consumer satisfaction: Sonic and Five Guys dropped notably, by about 4% at each chain. McDonald’s was in last place, with ACSI awarding the brand 70 points, a decrease of 1%.
It’s possible that McDonald’s recent value plays and renewed focus on menu innovation — including the McCrispy Chicken Strips and forthcoming drinks tests — will shift the needle on consumer satisfaction for the brand, but industrywide consumer satisfaction was fairly stable.
The stability of industry scores year over year masks a shifting competitive landscape at the regional, national and sectoral levels.
ACSI divided the country into four regions: South, West, Northeast and Midwest.
While Chick-fil-A topped the QSR category nationwide and in the West and South, Starbucks had the highest satisfaction scores in the Northeast. The coffee giant came in second in the West and tied for second in the South.
ACSI’s survey began before Brian Niccol took over at Starbucks in September, but continued for six months thereafter, meaning some of the changes at the coffee chain may have moved the needle on consumer perception. The survey’s time frame also includes most of the 2024 value wars, which kicked off last spring.
ACSI warned that consumer price sensitivity will make this year hazardous for many brands.
“With households increasingly treating dining out as a luxury, every menu item and service interaction becomes a potential make-or-break moment,” the survey firm wrote.
Legacy brands cannot count on maintaining an edge, Forrest Morgeson said in the press release. Morgeson is an associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research, emeritus, at the ACSI.
“Smaller, popular brands like Raising Cane's and Wingstop are proving that creative marketing, digital engagement, and focusing on core strengths can challenge even the most established chains. The brands that succeed will be the ones that adapt quickly,” Morgeson wrote.
Such observations run parallel to Q1 2025’s earnings performance, which saw segment leaders like Chipotle and McDonald’s lose sales. Within the chicken subcategory, Wingstop and Raising Cane’s passed KFC’s systemwide sales last year, according to Circana data, despite the challenger brands having significantly smaller footprints.
The ACSI report is based on 16,381 completed surveys from April 2024 through March 2025.
