What Is America's Most Popular Casual Chain?

Looks like Olive Garden is no longer everyone's favorite breadstick and salad purveyor; a new study from Marketforce has found that Maggiano's is the most popular casual chain restaurant in the country, beating out Olive Garden, The Cheesecake Factory, Pappapdeaux, and Bonefish Grill.

The study polled 7,000 adults about 114 chains, and while Olive Garden initially earned the highest amount of votes, when the amount of locations was factored in, Maggiano's was deemed the most popular.

But of course, that's not how real popularity contests work; Maggiano's only has 44 locations, while Olive Garden has more than 730, so naturally more people would know about Olive Garden. The poll showed, however, that Maggiano's earned the most votes per location (3.09) whereas Olive Garden only received 0.69 votes per location.

Other high-scoring chains? Pappadeaux, The Cheesecake Factory, and Bonefish Grill, followed by P.F. Chang's, Texas Roadhouse, and BJ's Brewhouse.

Check out the rest of the survey here.