Chick-Fil-A Is America's Most Polite Restaurant Chain
Chick-fil-A, recently ranked as America's best fast food restaurant based on customer satisfaction, is also the most polite restaurant in the country, according to QSR Magazine's annual drive-thru report.
"It's all about speed and accuracy, but we know our customers appreciate that we can be nice while being fast and accurate," said Mark Moraitakis, Chick-fil-A's senior director of hospitality and service design. "Eye contact and smiling go a long way in the drive-thru experience."
Employees at the chicken chain were the most likely of the 15 restaurants surveyed to say "please" and "thank you" and to smile at drive-thru customers. Chick-fil-A workers were also rated the second most likely to have a "pleasant demeanor," only bested by its much smaller competitor PDQ, a Tampa-based chicken chain.
Panera Bread was ranked third as the country's third most polite quick service eatery.
But when it comes to less than stellar customer service, Polo Tropical employees were rated as having the least "pleasant demeanor." Hardee's was only slightly better at 73.3 percent.
According to the QSR report, Chick-fil-A has been striving to make its drive-thru strategy as customer-friendly as possible. They now have dedicated drive-thru teams, and send employees with tablets out to the drive-thru lane to take orders when lines get long.
The recent rankings for Chick-fil-A come after the restaurant chain generated more revenue per location than any other fast-food chain in the U.S. last year. The chain's average sales per restaurant reached nearly $4 million.
This article was originally published on October 6, 2016
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