Five Guys, the US burger concept, which launched in the UK in 2013, has been ranked the UK’s most popular fast food chain, according to a new survey.
The study, carried out across over 4,500 UK consumers by Market Force Information, found that Five Guys actually topped fewer categories than closest rival Nando’s (three vs five) but an “exceptional” performance in food quality, cleanliness and staff friendliness pushed it into the top spot.
At the same time, Pret A Manger was ranked the country’s favourite café while Caffe Nero moved ahead of Greggs into second place, closely followed in the top five by Costa Coffee and Starbucks. Pret also came top in the best sandwich chain category ahead of Subway and Greggs.
As part of the new study, customers were asked to rate how satisfied they were with their experience of the chain, the food quality, staff friendliness and cleanness of the restaurant, and how likely they were to recommend it to friends.
According to The Telegraph, Nando’s scored highest on speed of service, value for money, “curb appeal” and atmosphere, while Gourmet Burger Kitchen, which came third overall, was recognised for its healthy options.
The research also found that around one-in-five customers said they were dissatisfied with their recent visit to a fast-food chain. A quarter of those surveyed said they had visited a café at least 10 times in the past 90 days, with Costa Coffee having the most visits.
Jay Little, director of Strategic Relations at Market Force Information, said: “In the pub category in the UK study, we identified six key factors that gave the biggest lift to satisfaction. Executing on all six factors resulted in an 89% lift in customer satisfaction. Furthermore, those respondents who gave a score of 5 (very satisfied) compared to a score of 4 (satisfied) were 3.6 times more likely to recommend to friends. With 36% of respondents saying new trials were driven by a recommendation by a friend or family member, clearly, executing on the key factors is critical for growing the business and the bottom line. A theme that we see year after year is that it’s not ok to be just ok in this fiercely competitive sector.”
