Each year USA Today conducts a reader-ranked survey, where they ask readers to rank their favorite fast-food restaurants. This year, for the first time in almost 10 years, Chick-fil-A was not atop this list.
In March, Chick-fil-A officially announced that they were making changes to the chicken they use to make their famous sandwiches. Chick-fil-A posted the following to their site, “To maintain a supply of the high-quality chicken you expect from us, Restaurants in the U.S. and Puerto Rico will shift from chicken raised with No Antibiotics Ever to chicken raised with No Antibiotics Important to Human Medicine starting in the spring of 2024”.
Some have speculated that this chicken change has caused people to shy away from eating as much Chick-Fil-A and that the chicken isn’t as good as it once was.
Despite the change of chicken, CFA only dropped to third in the rankings. Still ranking above Mcdonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s, all of whom did not even make this list. In reverse order the rankings go: 10. Arby’s, 9. Zaxby’s, 8. Popeyes, 7. Taco Bell, 6. Captain D’s, 5. Hardee’s, 4. In-N-Out Burger, 3. Chick-fil-A, 2. KFC, 1. Del Taco.
Considering establishments like Captain D’s, Hardee’s, and In-N-Out Burger only have locations in certain parts of the country, it was surprising to see them outperform powerhouses like Mcdonald’s and Wendy’s. As for Del Taco, they claim the top spot with just 600 locations countrywide, for reference Chick-fil-A has just over 3,000 locations in the United States.
In addition to losing their top overall spot, CFA now loses the crown for the best fried chicken which now belongs to KFC and their “finger lickin’ good” chicken.
It will be interesting to see if there is an even more significant falloff in the coming months as the new Chick-Fil-A chicken starts to show up in their restaurants around the world.
