Leaders of the pack

More than 3,100 restaurant-goers sound off about leading chains and grade their dining experiences.

By Staff -- Restaurants and Institutions, 9/1/2006

Choice is the defining element of America's economy and culture, and the exercise of that privilege is celebrated in Restaurants & Institutions' Consumers' Choice in Chains Awards. This exclusive research solicits input from more than 3,100 chain-restaurant customers, giving them a forum to voice their opinions about the national restaurant brands they choose to patronize.

In providing their evaluations of individual concepts, these consumers also reveal a great deal about their dining-out decisions and the varying importance they ascribe to diverse aspects of the total dining experience, from cleanliness and convenience to food quality, service, menu variety, value, atmosphere and more.

These research-validated insights into the chain-dining choices made by consumers are valuable to foodservice operators across all industry segments, allowing revealing glimpses into what motivates brand loyalty and spurs repeat business.

R&I has prepared its annual scorecard on chain performances since 1981. This year, results are reported for a total of 119 concepts in 13 menu categories. Those chains that achieved the highest customer-satisfaction scores are profiled in the following pages.

The real winners, of course, are restaurant consumers who strengthen the industry by setting high standards and looking to operators to exceed them.—The Editors

How the Winners are Chosen

R&I's Consumers' Choice in Chains survey respondents are a representative sample of U.S. consumers weighted to match the population by age, gender, household income, race and region. In all, 3,143 adults provided data about their awareness and patronage of more than 150 of the largest U.S. chains. Chains were selected for inclusion based on rankings in R&I's 2005 Top 400 Chains list. The margin of error for this data is +/- 2%.

To gauge customer loyalty, respondents who have patronized a chain in the past year are asked whether they would go back. In addition, guest satisfaction is measured through customers' ratings of each chain on eight attributes. To derive overall scores, performances on the attributes are weighted according to the chain's segment. That is done using ratings that consumers provide to indicate how important each attribute is in selecting a restaurant in a given segment. The weighted overall score can be used to compare chain performance across segments.

In order for a chain to be considered for Consumers' Choice in Chains awards (and for R&I to report loyalty data and attribute scores in this report), at least 3.5% of respondents must have patronized the chain during the previous 12 months.

The methodology for Consumers' Choice in Chains is designed to create data for competitive benchmarking, demographic analysis and strategic planning. Full-color reports can be purchased and custom analysis services also are available. For more details about R&I's Consumers' Choice in Chains data, please contact Scott Tolan, R&I research director, at (630) 288-8202; e-mail inquiries to scott.tolan@reedbusiness.com.