Report Shows Quick Service Restaurants are Failing at Customer Service

According to a recent customer review report, people visiting quick service restaurants are dissatisfied with interaction with managers and staff members, inaccurate orders, and wait times for their food, along with the ongoing issue of increased menu prices at QSR locations.

Chatmeter, a leader in multi-location intelligence, recently released the findings in its 2024 QSR Reputation Ranking, which ranks the 25 largest quick service restaurants based on customer reviews of food quality, service quality, and value. The report reveals that customers have many complaints about their dining experiences, with reviews mentioning customer service increasing by 19.1 percent.

Here are some of the key findings in the report:

• Customer service complaints: Reviews mentioning mistakes were up 6.9 percent, while references to staff attitudes rose 21.8 percent. Mentions of managers increased 14.6 percent over the previous year. Customers regularly reported inattentive staff, unprofessional communication, incorrect orders, and rude managers.
• Wait time woes: Wait time-related reviews increased 8.5 percent. Among those reviews, mentions that orders took a “long time” increased 35.7 percent, with many customers reporting it took as long as 30 minutes to an hour to get their food.
  • Mobile orders emerged as a potential threat to QSRs, with reviews mentioning mobile orders growing by 52 percent, and skewing negative. Consumers complained that mobile orders are not ready when promised or deprioritized over walk-in orders.
• Price sensitivity persists: While customer service-related issues dominate reviews, pricing remains a problem. The portion of pricing-related reviews describing restaurants as “overpriced” increased by 43.2 percent. Customers complained about discrepancies between menu prices and checkout prices, while others compared prices unfavorably to full-service restaurants.

QSR traffic in Q3 this year decreased by 2.7 percent compared with the same quarter in 2023. That is likely due in part to high menu prices, which have far exceeded the general Consumer Price Index. However, the report identified other areas of consumer frustration related to customer service that went beyond high prices.

Customers regularly reported inattentive staff, “unprofessional” communication, inaccurate orders, and rude managers. Those managers were often described as having poor customer service skills, while some reviews highlighted instances in which managers handled staff issues poorly in front of customers.

Most of the negative reviews about slow service came from digital customers. While the percentage of reviews mentioning mobile or online was less than one percent overall, reviews commenting about slow service included “online” 24.5 percent of the time, and “mobile” 52 percent of the time. These reviews skewed negative, which could be a concerning sign as more consumers adopt online ordering.

“Every brand is at risk of going viral for the wrong reasons, with growing reviews and customer chatter around poor service an obvious warning sign,” said Chatmeter CEO John Mazur. “QSRs must listen to their customers’ feedback in real time to make better decisions and ensure the customer experience delivers on what’s promised.”

While many of the report’s topline items featured complaints about customer service, it also included positive rankings of the top QSR brands. According to the report, Chick-fil-A ranks number one 1 for overall reputation, which includes food quality, service quality, and value. Sibling brands Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s were second overall, while Arby’s was third overall. Rounding out the top 10 for overall reputation were McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, Zaxby’s, Panda Express, Five Guys, and Taco Bell. The bottom five out of 25 measured were KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Jimmy John’s, and Subway.

Chatmeter used its AI-powered sentiment analysis tool to analyze Google reviews from a sample of 100 locations from each restaurant to inform its rankings. The report, which includes the full rankings and methodology, can be downloaded HERE.