Taco John’s employees were most courteous, in that regard. Nearly 61 percent of Taco John’s employees said “please.” McDonald’s employees were the second most polite. Forty-five percent of them said “please.” The next most frequent occurrences were among Burger King and White Castle employees (45 percent at both).
Taco John’s employees also thanked customers most consistently. About 92 percent of its customers were thanked, versus a national average of 77.6 percent. Chick-fil-A associates smiled most frequently (84.1 percent versus national average of 61.7 percent), while Krystal employees most frequently made eye contact (94 percent versus national average of 82 percent). Krystal employees also most frequently left the researcher with an impression of an “overall pleasant demeanor,” the most subjective assessment included in the friendliness charts. Pleasant demeanor is a difficult attribute to measure because it not only includes all of the survey criteria, but also factors like tone of voice and body language. More importantly, however, there is no way to balance several other difficult-to-measure attributes such as the researchers’ expectations and past experiences, all of which lead to ones overall feel for the interaction.
There are some fundamental rules in research that allow studies to arrive at conclusions with a fair degree of confidence, even when they cannot control all of the variables that might clutter results. Look for consistency. It’s becoming more apparent that those brands that consistently finish in the top of the rankings in this study are there for a reason. They are well-managed organizations that measure performance, then aggressively address opportunities for improvement based on thorough research. Through all the changes in technology and the industry’s environment, the leading chains stay at the top of the charts year after year.
| Please | "Thank you" | Smile | Eye contact | Pleasant Demeanor | ALL | NONE | |
| Most Courteous: Taco John's |
60.7% | 91.7% | 58.6% | 84.1% | 64.1% | 33.1% | 2.8% |
| Chick-fil-A | 39.1% | 81.6% | 84.1% | 91.8% | 78.3% | 27.5% | 1.0% |
| White Castle | 42.1% | 76.7% | 52.8% | 74.2% | 63.5% | 23.9% | 5.7% |
| McDonald's | 45.0% | 84.5% | 59.6% | 78.6% | 62.4% | 23.3% | 1.2% |
| A&W | 34.5% | 72.5% | 63.4% | 86.6% | 58.5% | 23.2% | 2.8% |
| Arby's | 41.5% | 79.7% | 63.1% | 85.7% | 63.5% | 22.3% | 1.0% |
| Wendy's | 33.7% | 82.0% | 60.3% | 78.3% | 55.1% | 19.1% | 2.3% |
| Taco Bell | 35.9% | 81.9% | 65.5% | 82.2% | 63.8% | 19.1% | 1.6% |
| Hardee's | 36.9% | 80.6% | 66.7% | 86.5% | 68.7% | 18.7% | 1.2% |
| Rally's | 37.6% | 68.8% | 46.8% | 74.5% | 58.2% | 18.4% | 8.5% |
| Long John Silver | 36.7% | 74.8% | 61.5% | 88.5% | 65.0% | 18.1% | 2.2% |
| Burger King | 42.3% | 81.3% | 56.5% | 77.4% | 54.2% | 17.1% | 3.2% |
| KFC | 37.8% | 78.2% | 59.2% | 76.5% | 53.1% | 17.0% | 3.1% |
| Church's | 19.8% | 80.2% | 48.7% | 93.7% | 66.7% | 15.3% | 1.8% |
| Dairy Queen | 26.8% | 78.2% | 48.5% | 84.5% | 54.0% | 14.6% | 2.5% |
| Jack in the Box | 27.7% | 80.7% | 63.9% | 79.5% | 49.8% | 14.5% | 0.4% |
| Whataburger | 25.1% | 87.4% | 70.3% | 82.3% | 65.7% | 13.7% | 0.6% |
| Del Taco | 36.2% | 82.2% | 64.5% | 72.4% | 49.3% | 13.2% | 1.3% |
| Bojangles | 28.2% | 71.8% | 72.5% | 79.4% | 76.3% | 13.0% | 2.3% |
| Carl's Jr. | 28.5% | 77.6% | 68.7% | 81.3% | 48.6% | 12.2% | 1.9% |
| Popeyes | 30.0% | 74.6% | 49.6% | 79.6% | 44.1% | 10.5% | 3.6% |
| Captain D's | 26.9% | 60.6% | 62.9% | 86.3% | 72.6% | 10.3% | 1.1% |
| El Pollo Loco | 32.3% | 80.8% | 66.9% | 75.4% | 39.2% | 7.7% | 2.3% |
| Checkers | 18.4% | 55.3% | 60.9% | 81.6% | 38.6% | 7.3% | 7.8% |
| Krystal | 18.8% | 55.0% | 68.5% | 94.0% | 78.5% | 4.0% | 0.7% |
| 2007 Average | 34.5% | 77.6% | 61.7% | 82.0% | 59.3% | 17.1% | 2.4% |