Australia’s favourite fast food chain revealed in surprise result as giants score surprisingly low

Australia’s favourite fast food outlet has been crowned, and it isn’t McDonald’s or KFC.

Instead, Aussie consumers have voted for Red Rooster as their Best-Rated Quick Service (Fast-Food) Restaurant in a recent survey conducted by consumer group Canstar.

The chicken giant was awarded five stars for overall satisfaction, taste and freshness, value for money, and customer service. It only lost one each for speed of service, presentation of food, and store layout.

However, Red Rooster’s website and app failed to impress, scoring a low three stars.

This is a surprise result for a country where McDonald’s and KFC reign supreme when it comes to sales figures alone.

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In further surprise results, Taco Bell landed in second place with five stars for overall satisfaction, value for money, presentation of food and store layout, and four stars for taste and freshness, speed of service, customer service, and website and app experience.

Coming in third is Grill’d, earning four stars across the board, followed by Roll’d, scoring five stars for speed of service, customer service and presentation of food.

Subway landed in fifth place with five stars for taste and freshness and four stars across all other categories, except for website and app experience, where it earned just three.

Zambero placed sixth, with five stars for speed of service and store layout.

Here is where the results get very interesting, with some of Australia’s most prominent fast food brands failing to impress those surveyed.

Guzman y Gomez placed seventh, earning just three stars for overall satisfaction, KFC placed eighth with a similar score, Nando’s landed in ninth position, and Oporto made it to 10th.

Hungry Jack’s placed 11th and, in what is sure to be a shock to many, McDonald’s placed last on the list in 12th place.

McDonald’s earned just three stars for overall satisfaction, and two stars across all other categories including taste and freshness, speed of service, value for money, customer service, presentation of food, store layout, and website and app experience.

Canstar surveyed 2,626 Australians for their feedback on their favourite quick service restaurants, asking about purchases they have made in the past three months.

Pizza brands were excluded from this particular survey.

However, based on sales figures alone, Domino’s dominates the Australian market, followed by Pizza Hut, Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar, Pizza Capers and La Porchetta.

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What these Canstar results show is something consumer experts have been tracking over the past several months: a pivot to healthier fast food options, high-protein menu items, and chicken in particular.

QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) chicken sales are expected to top $4 billion by 2032, according to the latest data. 

While consumer perception is one thing, sales results are another.

Based on sales figures alone, Australia’s most successful fast food brand is by and far McDonald’s.

The fast food giant turns over approximately $5.3 billion annually, followed by Domino’s revenue of $3.13 billion.

KFC places third based on sales figures, with an annual turnover of around $2.5 billion, followed by Hungry Jack’s in fourth place with $1.8 billion sales.

Subway placed fifth based on sales figures alone, turning over approximately $900 million each year, followed by Guzman y Gomez with $850 million in sales.