Every year, the American Customer Satisfaction Index releases its Restaurant Study. The current version is for 2022-2023. Among its measurements is one of the fast-food restaurants. McDonald’s, the largest company on the list, finished dead last in that ranking. (These companies have the worst reputations.)

The research is based on 16,250 respondents and was in the field from April 2022 through March 2023. The study covers both full-service and fast-food restaurants.

The primary yardsticks for fast food were the accuracy of food orders, the company’s mobile app, beverage quality, courteous staff, restaurant layout and quality, cleanliness, variety of food and beverages, and speed of checkout or delivery.

The restaurants were graded on a scale of 1 to 100. The study covered 24 fast-food retailers. McDonald’s got a score of 69. Taco Bell received a score of 71, while Chick-fil-A topped the list with a score of 85. The average score among all those measured was 78.

McDonald’s has 13,509 locations in the United States. Most are owned and operated as franchises. That means McDonald’s only has loose control of service.

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In the most recent quarter, McDonald’s had revenue of $5.9 billion and net income of $1.8 billion. The company does not break out revenue for the United States, but it is estimated at slightly less than half.

These are the ratings of America’s fast-food restaurants:

• Chick-fi l-A (85)
• Jimmy John’s (84)
• KFC (81)
• Papa Johns  (80)
• Domino’s (78)
• Five Guys (78)
• Pizza Hut (78)
• Starbucks (78)
• Arby’s (77)
• Dunkin’ (77)
• Panda Express (77)
• Burger King (76)
• Panera Bread (76)
• Chipotle (75)
• Dairy Queen (75)
• Subway (75)
• Little Caesars (74)
• Popeyes (74)
• Wendy’s (74)
• Jack in the Box (73)
• Sonic (72)
• Taco Bell (71)
• McDonald’s (69)

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