America’s favourite fast food store revealed

The crown comes despite sustained campaign to boycott the chain

Bring back the heart attack. The Heart Attack Grill’s Quardruple Bypass Burger pictured in 2006 (WENN)

Chick-Fil-A has topped the annual rankings of the country’s favourite fast-food restaurants compiled by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

The chicken chain beat out KFC, Starbucks, Panera Bread, and Five Guys despite being open on 52 fewer Sundays every year.

Closed on the Sabbath per the Christian faith of its founders, Chick-fil-A has been subject to almost a decade of boycotts and campaigns by LGBT activists claiming the company is anti-gay.

While Chick-fil-A’s seven-year reign at the top of the American Customer Satisfaction Index continued during the Covid pandemic from 2020 to 2021, its lead was shrinking.

Pizza chain Domino’s closed the gap to join Chick-fil-A at the top of the mountain in a tied spot for first place, while Subway dropped dramatically and Burger King hung on near the basement.

Chick-fil-A /Domino’s

KFC

Starbucks

Panera Bread

Pizza Hut

Five Guys

Arby’s

Chipotle Mexican Grille

Dunkin Donuts

Papa John’s

Burger King

Coming in at 12th, Burger King didn’t break the top 10. The chain launched a chicken sandwich war to capitalise on the latest round of boycott calls against Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy over donations to Christian charities.

Burger King tweeted in June that it would donate 40 cents for every chicken sandwich sold during Pride month up to $250,000 to the Human Rights Campaign.

"The #ChKing says LGBTQ+ rights! during #pride month (even on Sundays Eyes) your chicken sandwich craving can do good!," the company tweeted with a not-so-subtle side-eye emoji to the Georgia-based company.

The survey was based on interviews with almost 20,000 customers during the height of the pandemic from 1 April 2020 to 29 March 2021. The survey cut off before Burger King’s Pride month campaign.