No, You're Not Imagining It, Fast Food Service Is Getting Worse

If you've been thinking that the service at your favorite fast food restaurant is going a little downhill, you should know that you're not alone. And, statistically speaking, you're not wrong either. 

On Tuesday, Chatmeter — a multi-location, AI-based intelligence company — released its 2024 QSR Reputation Ranking, which ranks the 25 largest quick-service restaurants (QSRs) based on customer reviews of food quality, service quality, and value. And it found that across the board, complaints are up, wait times are longer, and mobile ordering is causing chaos. 

“Growing reviews and customer chatter around poor service [are] an obvious warning sign,” John Mazur, the CEO of Chatmeter, shared in a statement provided to Food & Wine. “QSRs must listen to their customer’s feedback in real-time to make better decisions and ensure the customer experience delivers on what’s promised.”

To fully understand what's happening to QSRs, the researchers utilized AI to analyze Google reviews of 100 randomly selected locations of the top 25 largest QSRs in the U.S. between August 2023 and August 2024, as well as during the same period from 2022 to 2023. They then conducted a keyword analysis and used Chatmeter’s AI-powered Signals to look into the specific issues customers said they faced and analyzed "sentiment around prominent themes," like the above-listed customer service and food quality. It then additionally ranked the restaurants from its analysis based on their food, value, and service quality.

According to the report's findings, reviews by customers mentioning "mistakes" were up 6.9%, and additionally found that references to staff attitudes were up 21.8%. The team added that mentions of managers increased 14.6% year-over-year, and while some mentions were positive, the overall lean was "negative."  

"Managers were frequently described as having poor customer service skills, and some reviews even highlighted instances where managers handled staff issues inappropriately in front of customers," the team shared in the results. 

However, it's not just management that's catching heat. Customers also regularly reported "inattentive staff" as well as lengthy wait times. In fact, wait time-related reviews increased by 8.5% over the last years. "Among those reviews, mentions that orders took a 'long time' increased 34.7% — with many customers reporting it took as long as 30 minutes to an hour to get their food." 

And if you thought mobile ordering could help ease the burden, think again. As the findings explained, reviews mentioning mobile orders growing by 52%, which once again, leaned toward the negative. "Consumers complain that mobile orders are not ready when promised or deprioritized over walk-in orders." 

Perhaps the least surprising of all is price sensitivity has persisted with QSR customers. The report found that pricing-related reviews describing restaurants as “overpriced” increased by 43.2% year over year. Additionally, customers are more often commenting on price discrepancies between menu prices and checkout prices. 

All this has led to fewer customers deciding to indulge in their favorite fast food. According to the report, the stores they analyzed reported less traffic. It noted that data from Revenue Management Solutions showed that traffic to QSRs declined by 2.3% in the second quarter of 2024, following a 3.5% decline in the first quarter.

As for who customers are still loving fast food, the report found that Chick-fil-A ranked as the number one spot, followed by Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s tied in second place, and Arby’s taking third, with McDonald's and Wendy's rounding out the top five. But even these chains weren't immune to customer reviews. While the report found that customers overwhelmingly praised Chick-fil-A's food, they still left negative reviews for longer wait times, dismissive behavior from managers, and pricing. 

"Today, customers are using their mobile phones while in the restaurant or the drive-through to provide nearly instant feedback, whether it’s via reviews or social media,” Mazur shared. “Every brand is at risk of going viral for the wrong reasons."