Chick-fil-A Just Got Some Very Good News, and the Irony Is Delicious

This is a story about Chick-fil-A, drive-thrus, and the numbers that matter.

It starts with the fact that Chick-fil-A just got some very good news: the quick-service restaurant chain ranked first among 13 major competitors in drive-thru satisfaction in InTouch Insight’s annual study, with a 98 percent customer satisfaction score.

Seriously—find me anything else that 98 percent of people rate positively.

It has to feel good for the chain, given everything they’ve put into perfecting the drive-thru experience over the years. Things like:

• A drone-film studies unit they opened to analyze bird’s-eye footage of their drive-thru operations.
• Surveillance video analysis using the same software that professional sports teams rely on to study game film.
• And the massive four-lane elevated drive-thru they opened in Atlanta. (I haven’t been there yet, but I’ll have to stop by next time I’m in town.)

There’s a paradox

All of that effort apparently paid off. But when you dig deeper into the numbers, there’s a paradox.

Here’s the delicious irony: Chick-fil-A actually has the longest drive-thru wait times in the study—seven minutes on average.

Taco Bell, by comparison, clocked in at just over four minutes. Several other chains came in under five.

So how does Chick-fil-A win on satisfaction while losing on speed?

The answer gets to something important about business metrics—and about understanding what your customers actually value. When you adjust for the number of cars in line—accounting for the fact that Chick-fil-A simply has more traffic—the picture changes dramatically.

Suddenly, Chick-fil-A and Dutch Bros have the fastest drive-thru times per car, both clocking in at just above two and a half minutes.

So, Chick-fil-A customers wait longer because there are more of them. But each individual car moves through faster than at most competitors.

All of which suggests customers don’t mind a long line—as long as the line keeps moving.

The study also found that Chick-fil-A excelled in order accuracy, food quality, and friendliness.

Go where the customers are

I come here neither to praise nor bury Chick-fil-A, but to learn from its history.

Chick-fil-A started in 1967 inside shopping malls.

But as malls fell out of favor, Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy explained in his 2002 memoir Eat Mor Chikin, the company was “losing potential customers” who didn’t want to go into a mall just to eat.

“They wanted to park near our entrance, or even use a drive-thru window,” he wrote.

Even a drive-thru!

So Chick-fil-A adapted, with freestanding locations and drive-thru-only restaurants. By 2020, drive-thrus accounted for 60 percent of all Chick-fil-A sales.

This year, Chick-fil-A opened two radically different restaurant concepts, each tailored to where customers actually are.

• In Atlanta, they built that massive four-lane elevated drive-thru with a unique meal transport system—because in suburban Atlanta, people want fast drive-thru service.
• In New York City’s Upper East Side, they opened a walk-in location designed for app-only ordering, with no kiosks, cashiers, drink fountains, or dine-in service—because in Manhattan, people want mobile pickup and delivery.

Bigger than the numbers

Ratings and rankings are great for internal validation and marketing, but they rarely lead directly to sales.

I can’t imagine anyone ever wondering what to eat for lunch or dinner and making the choice based on which chain won the InTouch Insight ratings for 2025.

But they can remind you of what’s important: that overall, qualitative customer satisfaction can transcend quantitative statistics.

Chick-fil-A might make you wait seven minutes. But apparently, you won’t mind.