Fast-Food Chains with Healthful Offerings Bring Home Awards.

Subway Leads Bevy of Sandwich Chains in Ratings for Healthful/Nutritious Food Offerings

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. -- At a time when health and nutrition at quick-service restaurants has dominated news coverage of the industry, Subway has carved out a niche as the clear leader in providing healthful foods. For eight straight years, Subway has been ranked No. 1 when it comes to providing healthful foods. In 2006, 55 percent of diners rated Subway "excellent" on "availability of healthful/nutritious foods," 4 percentage points higher than the runner up. Indeed, the Top 4 chains rated on this attribute are sandwich brands. Submarina, Panera Bread and Port of Subs are rated excellent on this attribute by about half of their customers.

Fully 43 percent of QSR customers rated "availability of healthy/nutritious food" "extremely important" in their selection of a fast-food restaurant in 2006, up from 35 percent in 2001. In fact, it is the only attribute of 12 studied that posted increases for five consecutive years.

These findings are based on the quarterly syndicated Quick-Track([R]) research program conducted by Sandelman & Associates, a San Clemente, Calif.-based market research firm that tracks consumer trends for the restaurant industry. Based on ratings provided by the study's respondents on fast-food chains they visited in the past three months, Sandelman announced its eighth annual Quick-Track Awards of Excellence for the top-rated chains.

In addition to tracking specific customer satisfaction attributes, Quick-Track also gathers overall ratings for QSR chains. Panera Bread, In-N-Out Burger and Giordano's Pizza finished in a three-way tie for "quick-service restaurant chain with the highest overall rating of last occasion," according to this study of more than 76,000 QSR users interviewed in 58 markets during 2006. Remarkably, 58 percent of respondents rated each of these three chains "excellent" overall.

In 2006, "value for the money" increased in importance for consumers in their selection process of a quick-service restaurant. Specifically, 56 percent of QSR customers rated value "extremely important," up from 53 percent in 2005. As other Sandelman & Associates research suggests, the increased importance of value is likely because of the increase in energy costs in 2006.

In 2006, 36 percent of all quick-service restaurant chain customers rated their last occasion "excellent" overall, a figure that's stabilized since peak satisfaction levels were attained in 2004. In all, 25 chains received one or more Awards of Excellence in 2006.

The winners are . . .

In 2006, the Top 10 chains rated excellent overall included a great variety of types, but sandwich chains (three of the Top 10) stole the show. Burger (one), pizza (two), chicken (one), Mexican (two) and miscellaneous (one) rounded out the 10 highest ranked chains overall.

In-N-Out not only tied for No. 1 overall, but also received an impressive 13 awards on a wide range of customer satisfaction attributes; Panera garnered nine. Giordano's, a Chicago stuffed pizza chain, catapulted into a three-way tie for the No. 1 spot overall from No. 16 in 2005.

Slightly more than half of chains improved their overall rating in 2006, but only five chains achieved a statistically significant improvement: Giordano's, White Castle, Panera Bread, Domino's Pizza and Taco Bell.

Information from this press release must be accompanied by a statement identifying Sandelman & Associates as the publisher and Quick-Track as the source. No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information without the express prior written consent of Sandelman & Associates.

About The Study

Quick-Track([R]) is a syndicated research study that tracks key consumer behavioral and attitudinal measures for all major fast-food and pizza chains in individual markets. This research program has been conducted on a quarterly basis since 1988 by Sandelman & Associates, a San Clemente, Calif.-based market research firm. During 2006, Quick-Track telephone surveys were conducted in 58 major markets across the U.S. among a total sample of 76,002 fast-food users. Respondents provide an overall rating of their last purchase occasion for each tracked chain they have patronized in the past three months. They also rate selected chains they have patronized in the past three months on 12 key attributes that define a chain's image, including food, service, cleanliness, convenience and value. A five-point rating scale is used, with "1" being "poor" and "5" being "excellent." The scores reported equal the percentage of patrons giving an "excellent" rating (top-box score). To ensure reliability, data is reported only for those chains that were rated by at least 150 past-three-month users. For some chains, the sample of respondents providing an overall rating was sufficient and this rating is included in the report, but the base providing ratings on specific attributes was below the 150 minimum requirement and attribute ratings for those chains are not included in the report. Importance ratings for the same 12 attributes are provided from the quarterly Quick-Track National study, which was conducted among 2,400 quick-service restaurant users in 2006. Respondents rate the importance of each attribute in their selection of a fast-food or pizza restaurant, with "1" being "not at all important" and "5" being "extremely important."