Best Fast Food Chains: Major Survey Says Chick-Fil-A, Panera, Chipotle Are America's Favorites

It's pretty easy to say which fast food chain is the biggest. By number of restaurants? Subway. By total revenue? McDonald's.

Deciding which is the best is tougher. It's an inherently subjective process. And there's nothing in the restaurant chain world to things like the National Book Awards, Grammy's or Westminster Best-In-Show to place stamps of approval on especially delicious fries from a drive-thru.

All we have are surveys. In September, Zagat released its ranking of fast food chains, determining that Five Guys was the most popular in the country. A comprehensive survey from research firm MarketForce, released in August, came up with the same result. Together, they gave Five Guys plenty of reason to be smug.

Industry research firm Sandelman and Assoc. just released the results of a huge new survey on fast food, based on the responses of 100,000 diners, far more than either Zagat or MarketForce. The final rankings are based on the responses of people who actually visited the restaurants in question in the three months before taking the survey. The survey ranked restaurants by the number of diners who said their experience had been "excellent."

Five Guys, though it does well, is not the winner. Neither is In-N-Out, another perennial contender in these types of surveys. (Though it's worth noting that, as a commenter points out, the final results weren't so far off from the Zagat rankings by rating, rather than popularity.) Click through below to find out who is, among chains with at least 500 outposts:

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CORRECTION: This article originally contained several typos. The company that released the survey is called Sandelman and Assoc., not Sandleman and Associates. Survey respondents were required to have dined at the restaurant in question within the last three months, not the last six months. And we failed to mention that slideshow above includes only chains with at least 500 outposts; the full results include several chains with high ratings but fewer than 500 locations.

Comments

[Sean Hobbins]

11:34 AM on 02/27/2012

I wish Whataburger would spread. They make a far superior fast food burger than anyone except Five Guys and In-N-Out

[Joe Bob Jones]

02:55 AM on 02/26/2012

Chick-Fil-A. Not allowed. Grounded. Bigoted, and publicly so, they can go suck on their fil-a.

[rbjllj]

12:08 PM on 02/16/2012

People need to learn personal accountabi­lity of what they eat or drink for that matter.

People are all too willing to slam the fast food industry for making people fat. But yet they might not consider their cappucinos, latte's, sodas, and other high calorie or high sugar drinks.

People need to educate themselves of what calories they are having. If a restaurant doesn't disclose it, then don't eat there.

Starbucks has quite a few calorie disasters in a cup. Put it this way, would you eat a cupcake or a big mac on the go? But yet some of the cals are equal to that and some are even more than that for the over priced, sugar and calorie laden cappucinos, frappucinos, and lattes.

[zest]

11:30 AM on 02/15/2012

Chick-fil-a is number one in sales and number one is discriminating against hiring gays, atheists, and any religious denomination except baptist.

[flyinghigh0905]

10:05 AM on 02/15/2012

I can't bring myself to eat Chipotle. This is because of a South Park episode, where Billy Mayes advertises for a product called Chipotle-Away, designed to clean the blood out of a chipotle eater's underwear after eating Chipotle. I'm sure it's just Parker and Stone poking fun, but I just can't do it.

[PrairieGayCompanion]

09:55 PM on 02/13/2012

I have only eaten at Five Guys once and it was the most greasy, disgusting thing I've ever tried to eat, and I've had lots of things in my mouth.

[hemiram]

02:21 AM on 02/15/2012

180 degrees from my only visit. It was great and I have to fight the urge to go back every time I'm near the place. Awesome!

[nychaseter]

11:08 AM on 02/25/2012

Their burgers are ok. If I can't order a burger how I want it (temperature cooked), a place won't make the list; well done isn't gonna cut it with me. As far as chain restaurant's go, no one does a better burger than Ted's Montana Grill. They're ot those hard, dense, factory-pressed burgers. The meat is flavorful, always juicy, crumbly, light patties. Five Guys are ok, but they're strictly fast food quality.

[grailknight]

09:12 PM on 02/13/2012

Zaxby's chicken fingers? Silly, chickens don't have fingers!

[Food Review 101 Web-Site]

08:23 PM on 02/13/2012

Chipotle all the way

[makebofapay]

06:08 PM on 02/13/2012

No wonder we have an epidemic of diabetes and obesity in this country. If you want to be healthy and stay healthy don't eat in any of these places--ever. Learn to cook healthy foods yourself. It's NOT hard! Maybe some day someone will come up with a chain restaurant that is truly healthy and delicious. Until then, figure out how to get and stay healthy. There is a ton of information everywhere on how to do this.

[flyinghigh0905]

10:01 AM on 02/15/2012

You should contact corporate instead.

[flyinghigh0905]

10:02 AM on 02/15/2012

haha oopsy wrong post.

[gumbygirl]

05:58 PM on 02/13/2012

I got the worst case of food poisoning once from Panera's mushroom soup. When I was able to drag myself out of the bathroom for a minute I called them to let them know. I was treated to a nasty, expletive laced rant from their manager for my trouble. Needless to say, I haven't been back since.

[flyinghigh0905]

10:02 AM on 02/15/2012

Oops I meant to write down here... that you should call corporate.

[OutAtFirst]

05:24 PM on 02/13/2012

Chick-fil-A uses way too much salt. After I eat there I spend the rest of the afternoon looking for drinking fountains.

[baxtron]

01:41 PM on 02/13/2012

couldn't

[BuckyJamesDio]

05:40 PM on 02/13/2012

Apparently.

[baxtron]

01:40 PM on 02/13/2012

Unable to order Jimmy John's in downtown St. Paul. The potheads working there had the music blaring so loud, I could hear myself think. And I'm under the age of 40.

[DavidMG]

01:57 PM on 02/12/2012

You'll find 28oo healthy eateries throughout the US in "Healthy Highways."

[exilist]

01:13 PM on 02/12/2012

Wienerschnitzel!