The market at a glance

• Highest market presence: McDonald’s holds the top position in aided awareness (89%), consideration (68%), past-6-month purchase (67%), and preferred brand status (17%).
• Brand stickiness: Chick-fil-A turns more than 1 in 4 of its customers into devoted fans, the highest of any well-known chain. In-N-Out Burger is even more impressive: despite fewer people knowing it, 35% of those who try it name it their favourite.
• Trust and perception leaders: In-N-Out Burger leads the category on brand trust (91%), ahead of Chick-fil-A (89%) and Wendy’s (88%), all outpacing McDonald’s (84%). Subway tops the market on taste and healthy options, while Burger King leads on service quality, price value, and speed.

Initial Findings from the US Fast Food Market

McDonald’s commands a dominant presence in the US fast food landscape, leading across all tracking metrics: 89% aided awareness, 68% consideration, 67% past-6-month purchase, and 17% preferred brand. It is followed by Burger King (85% awareness) and Taco Bell (80%), reflecting a deeply established and fiercely competitive market with 11 brands above 70% awareness and 21 brands above 60%. Both perform as strong runner-ups on consideration (59% and 54% respectively) and P6M purchase (45% and 42%), though they fall behind Chick-fil-A on preferred brand (8% and 9% respectively). Chick-fil-A stands out as the second-highest preferred brand (9%) despite ranking only 8th on awareness, a remarkable efficiency in converting recognition into genuine loyalty. The next tier is rounded out by Wendy’s and Subway, which place 5th and 6th across awareness, consideration, and preferred brand.

Some of the most interesting stories are about chains that fewer people have heard of, the hidden gems, but those who have tend to love them. Chick-fil-A converts 65% of aware consumers to consideration and achieves a 27% conversion rate from past-6-month purchase to preferred brand, the highest among nationally recognised brands. As a regional brand, In-N-Out Burger, despite covering just 54% aided awareness, converts 35% of purchasers into brand preference and leads the entire category in trust at 91%.

Consumer perception data reveals further differentiation across the market. Subway scores highest on healthy options (85%) and taste (82%) among all tracked brands. Burger King leads on service quality (89%), speed (82%), and price value (82%). McDonald’s performs solidly on speed (75%) and service quality (76%), consistent with its operational scale and reach. Brand trust tells a nuanced story at the top of the market: In-N-Out Burger leads at 91%, ahead of Chick-fil-A (89%) and Wendy’s (88%), all outpacing McDonald’s (84%) despite its unmatched scale.

“The US fast food market is one of the most saturated categories in terms of awareness that we track, yet the data shows that scale alone doesn’t win loyalty,” says Nik Samoylov, Founder of Conjointly. “While McDonald’s leads on reach and funnel efficiency, Chick-fil-A’s commitment to quality and trust and In-N-Out Burger’s regional dominance demonstrate that outsized brand equity can be built from a much smaller awareness base.”

The findings are based on a syndicated study of 1,427 US adult consumers, with 902 qualifying respondents confirming that they had eaten at or ordered from at least one fast food chain in the past 30 days. Participants were recruited via Conjointly’s panel network and compensated for their time, with the sample weighted to national demographics to ensure findings are market-representative.

Explore the US fast food chain data at https://brandtracker.conjointly.com/united-states/fast-food-chains/.

About Brand Tracker by Conjointly

Brand Tracker delivers automated brand performance reporting with rigorous, market-representative insights. Businesses across industries can now access statistically weighted brand funnel data, including awareness, consideration, purchase intent, and preference.

“We built Brand Tracker because we want to make insights about brand tracking to be accessible to everyone: big and small businesses alike,” said Nik Samoylov, Founder of Conjointly. “Brand Tracker has easy-to-use and easy-to-digest analytics about brand positioning, brand awareness and more, without requiring a six-figure commitment.”

Brand Tracker currently offers US businesses free access to detailed public brand data across five industries. For monitoring of your own brand with advanced analytics and real-time dashboards, Priority Access starts from the industry-breaking price of $4,000 per year, a fraction of traditional agency costs. Custom tracking solutions are also available for businesses with specific needs.

About Conjointly

Conjointly started as a simple online tool for conjoint analysis in 2016 and has since evolved into an industry-leading market research platform. Conjointly holds ISO 20252:2019 (Sampling), ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27701:2019, and SOC 2 Type II certifications, and is a member of the Insights Association and the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association.

Conjointly’s tools address the most common pricing and product research problems and are supplemented with expert support and guidance from experienced researchers. With thousands of projects performed on the platform, Conjointly is the go-to research place for hundreds of clients.