Quick Hits: McDonald's Customers Not Lovin' It

By Mike Schuster Jan 29, 2009 11:45 am

Brief scrutiny of today's headlines.

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You have to hand it to the dedicated fast food patron: They won't fall in line for just any mainstream fare. They're connoisseurs.

Which is why regional chain In-N-Out Burger of Irvine, California topped the ranks of overall customer satisfaction in a survey of 94,000 aficionados.

Conducted by Sandelman & Associates -- a market-research and consumer-trends firm -- the survey found that 60% of test subjects gave In-N-Out an "excellent" overall rating - a mere 1% higher than runner-up Raising Cane's of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

And given In-N-Out's proclivity for plastering its wrappers with passages from the Bible, it was probably unwise to knock Cane out of the top spot.

The study raised a few eyebrows when the results showed national fast-food brands were largely absent from the Top 10, replaced by regional chains. The few larger names that did make the list were Chick-fil-A, Panera Bread (PNRA) and Chipotle (CMG) which held the number 4, 5 and 6 spots, respectively.

Bigger chains like McDonald's (MCD) and Burger King (BKC) didn't even place.

Sandelman & Associates based their ranking on several factors, including food quality, service caliber, cleanliness and meal value. Paul Clarke, vice president of sales and marketing at the firm, told the Wall Street Journal that the higher quality might be related to maintaining fewer locations than the larger national chains.

The study also rated restaurants based on 15 categories. From that section, Subway rated highest for nutrition, McDonald's was most popular among children, and Little Caesar's took the honors for meal value.Twitter: @mcs212