The Truth About Fast Food: Ranking America's Most Disliked Chains

Let's roll up our sleeves and face the truth: Fast-food is and will most likely always be a major part of American culture. With Chick-Fil-A spending the past decade as America's favorite fast food chain, only to recently have been dethroned by Del Taco, we wanted to take a look under the hood at the statistics and see which fast-food chain is the worst in America. CouponBirds.com went through over 160,000 individual restaurant locations' reviews and did the heavy lifting for us. They broke their highest-rated rankings down by chain size, giving a top spot to "super-chains" (which includes Chick-Fil-A), medium-sized chains, and small franchises. They limited the worst-rated restaurants to just one list.

The worst-rated fast-food chain is Taco John's. With almost 400 locations across America, they hold the title for the lowest customer ratings. Taco John's has restaurants in states such as Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Surprisingly, the runner-up for the second worst rated fast-food chain is none other than McDonald's. According to the data, out of 2,589 businesses analyzed, McDonald's has an average rating of only 2.75 out of five.

Per LocationsCloud, there are more than 13,500 McDonald's in the U.S., making it a common sight during road trips. However, the popularity of the brand does not reflect customer satisfaction, as many patrons left unsatisfied reviews. Other notable mentions on the worst fast-food chain list include Popeyes, which ranks fifth worst, followed by Sonic in sixth place. This analysis shows that customer experiences vary widely, even among well-known chains.

Take a full look at the numbers and the breakdowns to see where your favorite fast-food chain ranks amongst consumers in America. It’s fascinating to see how customer feedback can impact a brand’s reputation!