New data on foot traffic shows that the most popular fast-food chains in the United States are not necessarily those with the most locations.
Dataplor’s latest research reveals that nationwide, Wendy’s is the most popular fast food chain in terms of visits, followed by Raising Cane’s, Chick-fil-A, Five Guys and McDonald’s. Two giants, McDonald’s and Subway, tied for the most widespread chains overall, with Burger King, Wendy’s, Dairy Queen and Sonic Drive-In rounding out this list. Only two of those more common restaurants (Wendy’s and McDonald’s) also made the top five for foot traffic, which Dataplor says suggests that “being everywhere doesn’t mean you’re going to be everyone’s first choice.”
Dataplor also found that consumer tastes often differ widely across regions.
Southeast
Wendy’s topped the list of most popular restaurants in terms of foot traffic in the Southeast, followed by McDonald’s, Raising Cane’s, Chick-fil-A and then a tie between Five Guys and Culver’s. Subway, Burger King, Sonic and Dairy Queen all appear on the list of most popular restaurants, but do not rank high in the foot traffic rankings.
West
Regional favorite In-N-Out Burger took the top spot in five Western states for having the most foot traffic, despite not ranking in the top five for total store count in any of the region’s states. Looking more broadly at the brands that made the top five for foot traffic in at least one Western state, In-N-Out tied for fourth with fellow burger chain Five Guys, with Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane’s taking the top spots.
Southwest
Maintaining its dominance of the West, In-N-Out also stood out as a beloved chain in the Southwest region, achieving the greatest number of first-place rankings for foot traffic in a given state, taking the top honor in two of the region’s four states. The list of brands that made the top five for foot traffic in at least one state in the Southwest were Wendy’s, Raising Cane’s, McDonald’s, Five Guys, In-n-Out, Culver’s, Chick-fil-A and Freddy’s. Frozen Custard and Steak burgers of those mentioned, however, only Wendy’s and McDonald’s have ever made it into the top five for total number of stores in at least one state.
Northwest
Five Guys, founded in Washington, D.C., and Jersey Mike’s, in its namesake state, ranked second and third in the region in terms of the number of times they were in the top five for total number of stores in a given state. When it came to overall popularity, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, and Five Guys took the top three spots for restaurants most likely to be in the top five for foot traffic. However, Raising Cane’s emerged as perhaps the most beloved restaurant, ranking first for foot traffic in six Northeastern states.
Midwest
Culver’s, a restaurant chain from Wisconsin, is the most popular in its home region, ranking in the top five for number of locations and foot traffic. It is the second most likely brand, after Wendy’s, to be in the top five for foot traffic in the region’s states, and it takes the top spot for popularity in one state, and that is Ohio.
