Chick-fil-A and Subway Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings for Fast Food Chains, According to Temkin Group

WABAN, Mass., May 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chick-fil-A and Subway deliver the best customer experience in the fast food industry, according to the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

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Chick-fil-A took the top spot for the fifth year in a row with a rating of 78%, putting it in 3^rd place out of 294 companies across 20 industries. Subway, meanwhile, came in second with a rating of 75% and an overall ranking of 12^th.

At the other end of the spectrum, McDonalds and Burger King tied as the lowest scoring fast food restaurants. Each received a rating of 65%, putting them in 100^th place. Only three other fast food chains failed to earn at least a "good" rating: Baskin Robbins, KFC, and Domino's.

Overall, the fast food industry averaged a 71% rating in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings and placed 2^nd out of 20 industries. The average rating of the industry decreased by five percentage-points between 2015 and 2016, dropping from 76% to 71%.

"The fact that Chick-fil-A can stand out, year after year, for its customer experience amid such tough competition is really impressive," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Here are some additional findings from the fast food industry:

• The ratings of all fast food chains in the Ratings are as follows: Chick-fil-A (78%), Subway (75%), IHOP (74%), Little Caesar's (74%), Arby's (73%), Taco Bell (73%), Hardees (73%), Dunkin' Donuts (73%), Pizza Hut (72%), Dairy Queen (72%), Starbucks (71%), Wendy's (71%), Jack in the Box (70%), Sonic Drive-In (70%), Domino's (69%), KFC (68%), Baskin Robbins (66%), Burger King (65%), and McDonalds (65%).
• Jack in the Box (+2 points) and Hardees (+1 point) were the only fast food companies to improve their ratings between 2015 and 2016.
• Sonic Drive-In (-10 points), Dairy Queen (-9 points), and Burger King (-8 points) declined by the most percentage-points between 2015 and 2016.

Now in its sixth year of publication, the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings is the most comprehensive benchmark of customer experience in the industry, evaluating 294 companies across 20 industries: airlines, appliance makers, auto dealers, banks, car rental agencies, computer makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, health plans, hotel chains, insurance carriers, Internet service providers, investment firms, parcel delivery services, retailers, software firms, supermarket chains, TV service providers, utilities, and wireless carriers.

To generate these ratings, Temkin Group asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions: success (can you do what you want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). Temkin Group then averaged these three scores to produce each company's Temkin Experience Rating.

In these ratings, a score of 70% or above is considered "good," and a score of 80% or above is considered "excellent." In this year's Temkin Experience Ratings, 20% of companies earned a "good" or "excellent" score, while 44% received a "poor" or "very poor" score.

The 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, along with other ratings, can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, www.TemkinRatings.com.

The free report, "2016 Temkin Experience Ratings," is available for download at the Customer Experience Matters^® blog (ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com) and at the Temkin Group website, www.TemkinGroup.com.

About Temkin Group: Temkin Group is a leading customer experience research and consulting firm. Many of the world's largest brands rely on its insights and advice to steer their transformational journeys, and Temkin Group accelerates their results by combining customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of organizational dynamics. Rather than layering on cosmetic changes, Temkin Group helps companies embed practices within their culture by building up four core competencies: Purposeful Leadership, Employee Engagement, Compelling Brand Values, and Customer Connectedness. The firm's ongoing research identifies leading and emerging best practices for engaging the hearts and minds of customers, employees, and partners. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or send an email.

*Customer experience matters is a registered trademark of Temkin Group.

SOURCE Temkin Group