Fast Food Worst to 1st: Consumers Rank McDonald's Last for Quality

A new fast food “worst to first” list ranks McDonald’s and Burger King behind In-N-Out Burger, Chick-fil-A, and other well-known food chains.

According to a new consumer report by RBC Capital Markets and Mission Measurement, McDonald’s is the worst fast-food restaurant, despite the company having been extremely popular around the globe for decades, The Street noted. The survey asked 1,000 people to rank sandwich and burger restaurants based on quality.

McDonald's, which has over 36,500 locations around the world, was once considered the best fast-food stop on the map for consumers, but that’s not the case today when it comes to quality of food.

“We wonder if McDonald’s can make a bold move to leap frog the competition with regard to quality—something that would be difficult at McDonald’s scale,” RBC’s analyst David Palmer said, according to The Street.

Burger King was another fast-food restaurant that found itself near the bottom of this list, despite its past popularity and success – having been around for more than 60 years.

Based on the new report, it looks like today’s consumers are less interested in these major food companies and more intrigued by the smaller food chains.

“For all-family brands, the bar may be higher on ingredients, and the media and promotional tools these (big brand) companies employed a decade ago seems to be far less impactful today,” RBC said, according to The Street.

Fast-food restaurants that fared well in the consumer report included In-N-Out Burger, which finished at the top of the rankings, and Chick-fil-A and Culver’s that followed right behind, according to Fox News.

McDonald’s has announced plans to improve food quality and launch a new resource that will allow its customers to order McDonald’s food on their mobile devices, Fox News noted.

Some of the restaurants that were not featured in the report include Taco Bell, Subway and Domino’s, according to The Daily Meal.

Here’s how some of the top fast food restaurants in the world rank, from worst to first.

12. McDonald’s

11. Burger King

10. Jack in the Box

9. Sonic Drive-In

8. Hardee’s

7. Wendy’s Restaurants

6. Carl’s Jr.

5. Arby’s

4. White Castle

3. Culver’s