For the first time, Americans are spending more money eating out than they are on groceries, a new report finds, and better-quality fast food is behind customers鈥� preference.
8. (tie)
KFC’s customer satisfaction ranking is up 7 percent. The chain surged past Pizza Hut into 10th place, tying with Domino’s and Chipotle with a score of 78 out of 100.
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
8. (tie)
Domino’s Pizza’s customer satisfaction ranking is up 4 percent.
(Getty Images)
Getty Images
8. (tie)
Chipotle was the only limited-service restaurant in the top 10 whose ranking dropped 鈥� 6 percent, in the wake of its food-safety problems.
(草莓传媒 File)
草莓传媒 File
5. (tie)
Subway’s customer-satisfaction ranking rose 4 percent, tying Dunkin’ Donuts and Arby’s at 80 out of 100.
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
5. (tie)
Dunkin’ Donuts rose 3 percent in the customer satisfaction rankings.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
5. (tie)
Arby’s customer satisfaction ranking went up 8 percent. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc.)
(Getty Images for Arby's Restaurant Group Inc./Neilson Barnard)
Getty Images for Arby's Restaurant Group Inc./Neilson Barnard
3. (tie)
Panera Bread crept up 1 percent in the rankings.
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
3. (tie)
Little Caesars leapt up 9 percent in the ACSI customer-satisfaction rankings. Little Caesars and Panera Bread each scored 81 out of 100, tying with the aggregate of all restaurants not listed separately.
(草莓传媒/File)
草莓传媒/File
2.
The customer-satisfaction ranking for Papa John’s went up 5 percent, to 82 out of 100, but it wasn’t quite enough to reach the top spot.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
1.
Chick-fil-A’s customer-service ranking went up 1 percent in 2016, to 87 out of 100, and it kept its title easily, by 5 points over second-place Papa John’s.
(Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON 鈥� Fast-food restaurants are catching up to sit-down establishments in customer satisfaction, and聽better-quality fast food ingredients are behind customers鈥� preference, an annual聽report finds.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index, released Wednesday, finds that satisfaction at what they call full-service restaurants still slightly outpaces those at limited-service operations, but the gap has closed 鈥� limited-service restaurants rose 2.6 percent to 79 on the ACSI鈥檚 100-point scale, while full-service restaurants slid 1.2 percent to 81.
Claes Fornell, the chairman and founder of ACSI, said in a statement, 鈥淎mericans are now spending more money dining out than shopping for groceries. Fast food restaurants appear to be capitalizing on this trend more than full-service restaurants, maintaining the lower prices and speedy service that has long defined the industry, while also appealing to health-conscious consumers via more diverse offerings and higher-quality ingredients.鈥�
Chick-fil-A retained its title as the limited-service restaurant with the highest customer satisfaction, with a ranking of 87 out of 100. The only limited-service restaurant in the top 10 to fall in customer satisfaction was Chipotle. Its problems with food-borne illness dropped its ranking 6 percent.
McDonald’s was at the bottom of the restaurants ranked by ACSI, but even its score went up 3 percent, from 67 out of 100 to 69.
Have a look at the top 10 limited-service restaurants and how their scores changed from last year.
The ACSI report is based on 4,786 customer surveys collected in March 2016. The complete report can be .
Rick Massimo came to 草莓传媒, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child.聽He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."
