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Survey Says: Five Guys Beats In-N-Out for Second Year as Consumer Favorite
Photo of the Five Guys in Valencia by R.E.˜ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Burger (and fast food) lovers, you have spoken, and your favorite "quick-service restaurant" for a second year in a row is Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The east coast-based burger chain bested SoCal's In-N-Out, who ranked second overall on the consumer survey conducted by Market Force.
Market Force ranks the survey results based on per-location votes, explaining: "Since consumers are only likely to vote for restaurants they visit, Market Force indexed the results to account for the number of restaurant locations per chain to see which would dominate."
That's how Five Guys, with far fewer locations than some of the other big finishers, like Panera Bread and Chick-Fil-A, managed to come out on top overall, though diners ranked their ultimate favorites a little differently:
When the consumers were shown a list of the country's 55 top quick serve franchise restaurants and asked to select their single favorite, Chick-fil-A received the highest number of votes, with 10.4% of the more than 4,500 total responses. Panera Bread came in second with 9.9% and Five Guys ranked a close third with 9.1%.
4,500 participants took part in the survey, and were asked to give feedback on the restaurants' food quality, taste, speed of service, cleanliness and value. When adjusted to per-location results, Five Guys trumped In-N-Out, followed by Chick-Fil-A, and Panera. Low-scoring bottom-dwellers include Subway and Burger King.
Haven't been to a Five Guys yet for a comparison to your beloved In-N-Out? They are continuing to expand in SoCal. The same cannot be said for In-N-Out, who don't have plans to head to the east coast, though they don't mind suing burger joints out there who they say are infringing on their copyrights.
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