Fast food chains are a staple of the American food culture today, and they have been for a few decades now. Long gone are the days when these chains only had a few locations and their service was entirely dependent on where you went, nowadays standardization has won the game and even if you go to a different country, you can still rely on McDonald’s or KFC to provide a standard meal that will give you the taste of home. The thing is that now, the bigger the chain, the more impersonal it feels, and while consumers still seem to want to have a standardized meal, they also want some personality and good customer service to go along with their food, and that is where the new fan favorite comes in, and it is an unexpected winner, Andy’s Frozen Custard.
Unlike other fast food restaurants, Andy’s Frozen Custard does not exactly serve food, as their name indicates they serve mostly custard and other frozen deserts to complement the menu. In operation since 1986 in their original Osage Beach, Missouri location, they now have over 170 company-owned and franchised stores in 15 states, Missouri, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. The remain headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, and are still family owned by the son of the original founders, Andy.
This family connection is part of what makes them so popular, as thy still have not lost the charmed, family and homey feel that made them popular in the first place.
How Andy’s Frozen Custard became the most popular fast food chain in the US
The analysis was performed by looking at more than 7.3 million reviews posted on TripAdvisor by real customers of the companies that were in the running. It was conducted by the website ChicksX and evaluated 244 restaurant brands that had multiple locations in multiple states, and to participate, chains had to have at least 150 reviews on TripAdvisor.
The rating was not based on the food, as that would have been an unfair comparison and entirely subject to personal taste. As a general rule you will not go to a custard shop if you do not like custard, but you may end up there out of obligation if someone drags you in and your dislike will permeate your opinion of the product itself. Instead, to eliminate this bias, the rating focused solely on customer perceptions of the service received.
Andy’s Frozen Custard won this metric by a landslide, earning and average score of 4.68 out of 5, surpassing other well-known chains. Following the ranking were Great Harvest Bread Company, with 4.63 points, and The Melting Pot, with 4.57 points. These chains specialize in freshly baked breads and fondues, respectively.
Industry heavyweights did not fare as well as many would have expected considering their popularity and reach, with KFC being the lowest-scoring chain, scoring 2.89 out of 5, McDonald’s following with 2.99 points, and Burger King with 3.0 points. Other chains that appeared among the bottom positions were Church’s Texas Chicken, Long John Silver’s, Taco Bueno, Taco Bell, Hardee’s, Wendy’s, and Pizza Hut, all of them quite well known places to eat.
TripAdvisor users described negative experiences with these bigger chains happening across the country. Some reviews mentioned delays in service, problems with electronic equipment, cold or poorly prepared food, and slow service as the reason for the low ratings, which likely means that the quick expansion and the disconnection between the locations and the headquarters can make some things easier in the business front, but will definitely leave customers feel like the service is worse and the company does not care about their experience.