Who Rules the Fast Food World when it Comes to Customer Service?

I am on a mission to improve customer service in America. I know it is a losing battle; however, I have to at least give it a try.

Having taught marketing (and advertising) for a number of years, I am appalled by the current condition of customer service in our country. What is worse than that fact is that business honestly doesn't comprehend that they have a problem.

With consumers tightening their belts in order to deal with rising prices of gasoline, companies had better get a handle on the customer service issue. If they don't, they will find themselves left out in the cold as customers dessert them in favor of their competition.

To begin my project, I decided to do some comparisons between different types of like businesses. This article compares the customer service abilities of Burger King, Chic-fil-A, Hardees, McDonalds, and Sonic Drive-Ins.

In each instance, I visited three different locations over a period of several months. I sampled services both inside the locations as well as through the drive-in windows. While Sonic does not have an inside restaurant, those that I visited all had an outdoor picnic area that served basically the same purpose.

I based the following comparison on five key customer service points, ranking each one on a scale with one star being the worst and five being the best. These included the:

Length of wait time;
Attitude of wait personnel;
Correctness of the food order upon receipt;
Freshness of the food upon delivery; and
Helpfulness of personnel when presented with a problem.

Based on the company's ratings within those areas, I awarded the business an overall grade between A for outstanding to F for complete failure.

Length of Wait Time:

Burger King had a decent response time in comparison to most of the other businesses. Measured with two drive though and one inside visit, Burger King processed waiting customers a bit slowly but got the food into the customers' hands as quickly as possible. SCORE: Four stars

Chic-fil-A responded as much as three times faster than any of the other four businesses; both in wait time to place the order and wait time to receive the ordered food. As measured in two drive through and one inside visit, wait time was virtually non-existent. This company moves their lines along as quickly as possible and delivers their food to the customer in record time. If, in a rare case, a customer is kept waiting an inordinate amount of time, the restaurant offers free food or comp coupons. SCORE: Five stars

Hardees' wait time to place a food order proved to be a bit trying. However, their wait time to receive food was abysmal. I drove through two locations and went inside at one. The wait time either way appeared to be about the same amount of time. While definitely not as bad as Sonic, Hardees tied with McDonalds to rank near the bottom of the list. SCORE: Two stars

McDonalds was once a paragon of customer service. They pioneered the dual drive through window idea: One window to pay and one to pick up food. Now they rarely even use the pay window and don't appear to give their customer's valuable time even a cursory thought. Comparing one drive through and two inside visits, each was even worse than the one before it. SCORE: Two stars

Sonicused to be one of my favorite places to go back in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, in Virginia, it is a place to avoid at all costs. Customer service of any kind is virtually non-existent because these drive-ins are run with skeleton crews and young, uninterested personnel. Some Sonics don't even have drive through windows anymore; with customers having to tip carhops for walking a few steps out of the door to hand them their "to go" food. Wait times are excessively long both to place orders and to receive them in return. SCORE: One star

Attitude of Wait Personnel:

Burger King personnel are not as amiable as those at Chic-fil-A to be sure. However, neither are they absolutely horrible. If anything they are just inconsistent. At one location, they were friendly, helpful, and quick. At one, they weren't particularly friendly but were not rude either. At the third, they bordered on being surly and moved a bit slowly. SCORE: Two stars

Chic-fil-A personnel are, on the whole, pretty amazing. Whether driving through or visiting inside, the wait staff use words and phrases like "welcome;" "how may I serve you;" "my pleasure;" and "thank you for choosing Chic-fil-A." The customer actually often walks away feeling better than they did when they began their visit. Imagine that! SCORE: Five stars

Hardees' personnel appear totally uninterested in their job and their customers. During all three visits, I got the feeling that I was nothing more than an interruption of their already miserable day. I offered a "have a nice day" at one place to receive in response "yeah, right." SCORE: One star.

McDonalds' personnel, attitude wise, are on par with Hardees. Where they really flunk out, however, is in the fact that they have no intention of moving any faster than a snail. In all three locations that I visited, I watched personnel stop to talk with colleagues, stand around looking at the ceiling, and doing anything and everything possible to draw out the entire process. Not cool! SCORE: One star

Sonics' personnel mirror those of Hardees and McDonalds almost exactly: Poor, poor, poor, and poor. SCORE: One star

Correctness of the Food Order:

Burger King got my order correct in all three locations that I visited. SCORE: Five stars
Chic-fil-A got the order correct in each instance as well. SCORE: Five stars
Hardees got one two out of three orders correct. SCORE:Three stars
McDonalds got one out of three orders correct and only made a minor error on the third. SCORE:Two stars
Sonic got three out of three orders incorrect. SCORE: One star

Freshness of the Food Upon Delivery:

Burger King's food was hot and fresh each time. SCORE: Five stars
Chic-fil-A's food was hot, fresh, and absolutely delicious each time. SCORE: Five stars
Hardees' food was hot and fresh in one location; warm and just average in one; and cold and nearly inedible in the third: SCORE: Two stars
McDonalds' food was warm and just average in two locations and cold and nearly inedible in the third. SCORE: Two stars
Sonic's food was barely warm and microwave rubbery in all three locations. SCORE: One star

Helpfulness of Personnel When Presented With a Problem:

Burger King's response to problems was mixed. I encountered no problems in one visit. In one instance, the supervisor was cheerful and helpful. However, in another, the manager was surly and rude. SCORE: Three stars

Chic-fil-A unfortunately, presented no problems to be solved so I was unable to check out this particular point on any of the three visits. However, based on past encounters I know that the response would be prompt and courteous. SCORE: Four stars

Hardees' personnel were rude when problems were pointed out in one instance and barely showed any emotion one way or the other in another. However, no problems were experienced during the third visit. SCORE: Two stars

McDonald's personnel, in all three instances, ignored problems when presented by continuing to wait on other people instead of dealing with an unhappy customer. SCORE: One star

Sonic personnel deal with problems but far too many problems exist. In all three instances, I had problems with my order. In two cases, the Sprite ordered was only carbonated water. In one a "chocolate" shake contained no chocolate. While the problems were fixed with replacements, the personnel didn't appear to be at all worried about making so many mistakes or keeping their customers waiting an inordinate amount of time. SCORE: One star

OVERALL RATING:

Burger King: B (They have room for improvement.)

Chic-fil-A: A (As close to perfect as it gets.)

Hardees: D (Not really trying.)

McDonalds: D (Not really trying.)

Sonic: F (Failed in every respect - miserably.)

WINNER: - Chic-fil-A by a landslide!