Tag: Chick-fil-A

OM in the News: Chick-fil-A Dethroned as Quality Fast Food Chain Leader

America’s favorite fast-food chicken chain has been knocked from the top spot in a closely watched customer satisfaction ranking, reports FoxNews.com (June 16, 2026). Chick-fil-A, which topped the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) in 2025, fell to second place this year.

Jersey Mike’s claimed first place, with an ACSI score of 84 out of 100, edging Chick-fil-A’s 83. The shift marks the first time in over a decade that a new chain has led the ACSI’s quick-service restaurant (QSR) category. ASCI credited Jersey Mike’s with maintaining high customer satisfaction while rapidly expanding its restaurant footprint, writing :”Jersey Mike’s success is consistent with their business performance, including rapid unit growth, strong customer demand, and a model designed around throughput and off-premise convenience from high digital pickup usage.”

Jersey Mike’s, founded in 1956, has more than 4,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada, and is best known for its made-to-order subs and “Mike’s Way” sandwiches. A narrow menu adds to its success in the ratings.

Following Chick-fil-A were Jimmy John’s and Panda Express, which tied for third place with scores of 81. KFC, Papa Johns and Pizza Hut followed with scores of 80 — while Domino’s, Raising Cane’s, Starbucks and Subway each earned ratings of 79. Burger King, Culver’s, Dunkin’, Little Caesars and Panera Bread rounded out the next tier with scores of 78. Ranking near the bottom were Dairy Queen and McDonald’s, which tied for last place with scores of 72.

The ACSI study was based on 16,464 surveys.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Research the ACSI study approach and comment.
  2. Why is McDonald’s tied for last place?

OM in the News: How Chick-fil-A Uses OM to Make Fast Food Faster

Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A is on the vanguard of fast-food drive-through operations management, regularly dispatching specialist teams to its more than 3,000 restaurants to study the minutiae of parking-lot traffic patterns and how employees hand off orders. Chick-fil-A recently notched $21.6 billion in U.S. sales, the highest per-restaurant total in the industry (even though the chain stays closed on Sundays). About 60% of its sales happen at drive-up windows.

Burgeoning demand has threatened the “fast” in Chick-fil-A’s fast-food model, writes The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 2, 2025). The “cockpit”—the hectic corner of the kitchen where orders are bagged and handed off to drivers—was growing crowded. Drive-through lanes would run out of room for cars, which sometimes spilled beyond the parking lots. Customer studies regularly gave the chain top marks for quality, accuracy and service, but its drive-throughs ranked highest in time elapsed from entry to exit.

At the new store near Atlanta, Chick-fil-A has 4 drive-through lanes and an elevated kitchen.

For years, Chick-fil-A’s popularity has resulted in long lines of cars. For example, one Chick-fil-A in Rockford, Illinois was straining under a crush of customers lured by a chicken sandwich deal one recent Friday afternoon. Cars inched along 2 drive-through lanes while workers tapped in orders and others handed off bags of sandwiches and fries. Later, the store operator and OM process analysts from the chain’s headquarters hunched over a laptop studying the earlier mayhem. Security cameras in the kitchen and a drone hovering over the parking lot had captured footage of the rush, which set a new sales record for the store. At its peak, the drive-through served one car every 13 seconds, an enviable achievement for any fast-food operation. But not good enough for the company.

OM  insights are reshaping Chick-fil-A’s restaurants. One recently opened near Atlanta with no dining room but 4 drive-throughs that can serve some 700 cars an hour. A second-floor kitchen prepares food that is delivered to the cars below via a system akin to a dumbwaiter.

Restaurant operators have also explored different ways to take drive-through orders. Instead of relying on speaker boxes, they stationed workers outside to take orders directly from idling cars, then call them into the kitchen through cellphones or headsets. That practice helped speed up service, and that customers appreciated more direct interaction.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. What process analysis tools in Chapter 7 of your Heizer/Render/Munson text could be used to improve quality and service times?
  2. Why are some fast-food restaurants moving toward no indoor dining areas?