CHICAGO -- Today's restaurant industry is a cutthroat market, with operators fighting to win over consumers. Getting them in the door--and then keeping them coming back--means understanding what's important to diners, and then delivering on those key values.
Here, based on exclusive data from research firm Technomic, is CSP Daily News companion publication Restaurant Business's second-annual ranking of the restaurant chains that have solved the puzzle, the ones consumers say are their favorites and why. And it's not the buzzed-about big guns you might think; bringing in the most money doesn't mean one has all the answers. In fact, in many instances, it's smaller regional concepts that consumers prefer.
For each winner, we've cited one thing it's doing right, a lesson for others looking to stand out from the pack.
Chicago-based Technomic's Consumer Brand Metrics program is a comprehensive, ongoing study that tracks the performance of leading limited- and full-service chains by measuring the consumer experience. This report includes the top 100 restaurant chains operating within the United States in terms of sales, plus additional chains to round out certain categories or capture regional data.
The data represents responses from approximately 87,000 consumers, with data collection occurring between Oct. 1, 2013 and Sept. 30, 2014. Scores represent the percentage of respondents who strongly agree with the statements, ranked on a scale of 1 to 5.
Click here to see the results and to read Restaurant Business's full report.
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