Today's consumers have seemingly endless dining options, from hundreds of restaurants, to prepared foods purchased from stores, or even home-cooked meals. If restaurant operators want to successfully compete in this environment, they need an intimate understanding of the restaurant experience from a consumer perspective.

To gain that understanding, Technomic developed its extensive Consumer Restaurant Brand Metrics online database and just released a downloadable "Voice of the Customer" summary report that offers a concise overview of the attributes that are most important to consumers and the chains that succeed across these metrics.

"Restaurant operators are making efforts to track consumer purchasing habits and attitudes," says Darren Tristano, Technomic EVP. "But very few of them have the resources to benchmark their results against their competition and measure performance over time. Today, success depends on excelling on the touch points that consumers feel are most important." Tristano notes that the Consumer Restaurant Brand Metrics database helps chains identify where they are winning with consumers and pinpoint factors that require attention.

Top Ranked Chains (Criteria)

Top 5 Limited-Service Chains 
Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza (Service and Hospitality) 
Chick-fil-A (Unit Appearance and Ambiance) 
McAlister's Deli (Food and Beverage) 
Firehouse Subs (Convenience and Takeout) 
In-N-Out Burger (Value)

Top 5 Full-Service Chains
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (Service and Hospitality)
Ruth's Chris Steak House (Unit Appearance and Ambiance)
Carrabba's Italian Grill (Food and Beverage) 
Red Lobster (Convenience and Takeout) 
LongHorn Steakhouse (Value)
Source: Technomic Consumer Restaurant Brand Metrics

The downloadable "Voice of the Customer" summary offers a snapshot of consumers' favorite chains and provides insight into why they win with consumers. You'll find:

  • The leading chains overall and broken out by quick-service, fast-casual, family-style and casual-dining concepts
  • Top concepts among eight different segments, including burger, steak, pizza/Italian, varied menu, chicken, beverage/snack, Mexican and sandwich
  • Brands that consumers rank strongest in service and hospitality, unit appearance and ambiance, food and beverage, convenience and takeout, and value
  • Leaders in brand image and reputation

More than 115 leading restaurant chains are included in Technomic's Consumer Restaurant Brand Metrics online database, which allows operators to track their performance against competitors on more than 60 different attributes regarding food, service, atmosphere, value, convenience, reputation and more. Chains can also analyze their results by region, demographic group or designated market area. The consumer feedback is based on ongoing data collection and compiled from a nationally representative sample of more than 80,000 annual consumer restaurant visits.

Click here to download the 16-page complimentary "Voice of the Customer" report.