Q: Why are Chipotle and Panera Bread considered fast food restaurants in surveys? They aren’t fast food restaurants.
—Joyce Ojala, Atlanta
A: Chipotle and Panera Bread are fast casual restaurants, which can be tough to define, but often are considered fast food restaurants for the purpose of research and surveys, like this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index, which was released June 30.
Customers are required to give their orders at the counter at both fast casual and fast food restaurants. They also seat themselves and clear their table with no tipping.
That differs from full service restaurants.
They generally feature a wait staff that brings food to the table, prepares the bill and then clears the table. Tipping usually is involved.
“As such, both Chipotle and Panera Bread fall in the fast food category and not the full service category,” an ACSI spokesman told Q&A on the News in an email.
But fast casual restaurants generally differ from fast food restaurants in several ways, he wrote, including:
- Higher price point
- Better quality ingredients
- Perception of freshness
- Made-to-order food
- Upscale or highly developed décor
“It’s all very confusing,” Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, an industry research firm, told the Washington Post earlier this year. “The truth is that no one really has the ‘right’ answer.”
The recent ACSI survey found that Chick-fil-A has the highest customer satisfaction with 86 points on a scale of zero to 100. Chipotle was second at 83 and Panera was third with 80 points.
McDonald’s was last with 67 points.
About 70,000 people participated in the survey.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
About the Author
