Higher prices aren’t the only reason QSRs are losing traffic

The quick service segment continues to hemorrhage traffic, a trend that has been in place for over a year across many brands. Much blame has been placed on stubbornly high menu prices, and for good reason – the inflation rate for limited-service restaurants continues to far outpace the overall Consumer Price Index.

But there’s more to QSRs’ current struggles than prices. The 2024 QSR Reputation Ranking, a new report from Chatmeter that analyzes customer reviews, finds that complaints within the segment increased last year. Reviews mentioning errors increased by almost 7%, while references to employee attitudes increased by almost 22% and mentions of managers increased by almost 15%, both trending negatively.

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Customers regularly report inattentive staff, “unprofessional” communication, inaccurate orders, and rude managers. These managers were often described as having poor customer service skills, and some reviews highlighted instances where managers handled personnel issues inappropriately in front of customers.

Additionally, reviews related to wait time increased by 8.5%, with nearly 36% of customers reporting that their orders took “too long.”

When it comes to slow service, a lot of negative reviews came from digital customers. While the percentage of comments mentioning mobile or online was less than 1% overall, comments mentioning slow service included “online” 24.5% of the time and “mobile” 52% of the time. These reviews were negative, signaling a potential reputational threat as more consumers embrace digital ordering.

Overall, reviews that mentioned customer service issues increased 19% year over year, while those that mentioned pricing decreased slightly. This is not to say that price is no longer an issue – in fact, quite the opposite. The share of price-related reviews that described restaurants as “too expensive” increased more than 43% from last year.

It’s important to note that while this data illustrates that negative feedback dominates customer service ratings, Chatmeter’s overall perception of customer service has improved slightly. The company theorizes that while QSRs are investing in customer service efforts, “they are not doing enough.”

“All brands are at risk of going viral for the wrong reasons, with growing criticism and customer conversations about poor service being an obvious warning sign,” Chatmeter CEO John Mazur said in a statement. “QSRs must listen to feedback from their customers in real time to make better decisions and ensure the customer experience lives up to its promise.”

QSR Brands That Are Winning the Customer Service Battle

That’s not to say all brands are struggling with customer service. According to the report, Chick-fil-A ranks first in overall reputation, which includes food quality, service quality and value. Sister brands Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s placed second overall, while Arby’s placed third overall.

Rounding out the top 10 in overall reputation were McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, Zaxby’s, Panda Express, Five Guys and Taco Bell. The bottom five of the 25 evaluated were KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Jimmy John’s and Subway.

In food quality, Chick-fil-A ranked first, followed by Popeyes, Panda Express, Zaxby’s and Chipotle. In service quality, Chick-fil-A once again came out on top, followed by McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box and Hardee’s.

When asked “what do customers think about my prices?” Hardee’s came in first, followed by Arby’s, Chick-fil-A, Five Guys and Wendy’s. The bottom five in prices were Jersey Mike’s, Pizza Hut, Chipotle, Jimmy John’s and Subway.

Chatmeter used its AI-powered sentiment analysis tool, Signals, to analyze Google Reviews from a sample of 100 locations for each restaurant to inform ratings.

Contact Alicia Kelso at (email protected)