In-N-Out’s playbook has always held an air of mystery. Partly because the brand keeps operating principles close to the vest, but also because its expansion has been so deliberate over the years that every growth leak makes national news.
Yet a couple of points are well-known ticks of the family-run chain’s differentiation—its streamlined menu delivered at scale, in-restaurant or with outside order-takers in the drive-thru, and its commitment to labor. Analyst William Blair recently published its fourth longitudinal analysis of employee ratings from Glassdoor (check out the 2022 version here). This now encompasses 11 years of data based on more than 530,000 reviews for nearly 90 restaurant concepts.
And for the 10th straight calendar, In-N-Out led the pack on employee satisfaction. While industry workers often cited the fast-paced and stressful environment of their jobs as negatives, employees of top-rated brands disproportionally referred to management, colleagues, schedule flexibility, and opportunities for growth as key positives.
When companies got these elements right alongside a well-defined, healthy culture, the report said, the reward showed multiple years of elevated net promoter scores (willingness to recommend the job to a friend). To this point in William Blair’s research, 70 percent of concepts in the top 10 NPS were repeats of 2024, and 60 percent were in the top 10 since 2022.
Simply, winning culture isn’t being built overnight in this business.
In-N-Out scored a 91 percent, up from 86 percent, followed by Raising Cane’s, which climbed to 82 from 77 percent. The latter has been in the top 10 for nine of the last 10 years. Dutch Bros was the highest-ranked publicly traded restaurant company in third place (78 percent and its fifth straight year in the top 10). Beverage-based brands accounted for three of the top 10, including Caribou Coffee, which cracked the echelon for the first time. Two Darden-owned full-service concepts fit the tier as well. Chuy’s, acquired in October for $605 million, tied for third (fourth consecutive time in the top 10) and LongHorn secured No. 8 to break through for the first time since 2020. Chick-fil-A slid three spots to No. 10 and has been in the mix eight of the last 10 years. Portillo’s made its first appearance at No. 8. Hardee’s lagged the ranking at 39 percent.
On an absolute basis, more than half of the brands under William Blair’s coverage increased or maintained their NPS scores sequentially. Sweetgreen (up 10 percentage points to 57 percent), El Pollo Loco (a rise of 5 to 59 percent), Kura Sushi (5 to 45 percent), and Portillo’s (4 to 73 percent) showed the most improvement. Shake Shack (down 3 percentage points to 61), Cheesecake Factory (2 less to 68 percent), and Starbucks (a drop of 2 to 60 percent) backtracked.
Relative to all, roughly two-thirds increased or maintained rank, led by Sweetgreen (a climb of 33 spots to No. 49), El Pollo Loco (21 higher to No. 39), CAVA (nine better to No. 45), and Kura Sushi (rise of 9 to No. 81). Shake Shack and Cheesecake Factory slid three spots apiece to No. 31 and No. 15, respectively.
In-N-Out is the only brand to maintain a top 10 ranking every year of the past decade.
Getting into some of the “why,” hourly crew pay moderated for the second straight year following strong post-COVID gains in 2022 and 2023. The rate of increase in overall hourly crew pay settled to mid-single digits from low double-digits last year. This owed to a mid-teens increase in the “specialty” category, a high-single-digit jump in quick service, and a mid-single-digit leap in fast casual, while casual dining declined low single digits.
Average hourly pay for quick service, fast casual, and specialty has climbed by more than 75 percent since 2015, spearheaded by a doubling in specialty wages. Average hourly pay for casual dining more than tripled (anchored by the inclusion of tips).
Hourly pay was correlated to geographic exposure to high- or low-wage regions after decoupling on increased overall competition for workers in 2022 and 2023. There was an outsized coast presence in the study at more than half of the highest-wage concepts.
It was also notable, William Blair pointed out, that the top seven highest wage restaurants were all beverage focused, “suggesting particularly high competition for labor.” (Read here about the recent growth of 7 Brew and Dutch Bros). Many of the concepts in the bottom 10 were heavily concentrated in the south or central portions of the country, such as Sonic Drive-In, Hardee’s, and Smoothie King.
General manager wages rose about 9 percent in 2025 after a 13 percent spike in 2024 (low-double-digits in quick service and 6–9 percent across other segments).
Leadership, as usual, mattered as well.
Diving deeper into quick service, employee ratings were similar across brands excluding outliers like In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A. Those chains have held the top two positions for the full decade.
While In-N-Out continued to rank first or second across every measured attribute, Chick-fil-A fell to No. 4 in work/life balance (from No. 3 last year) and now trails Jimmy John’s, Jersey Mike’s, and Chick Salad Chick. Jimmy John’s achieved above-average ratings overall and across multiple measured areas, except career opportunities and compensation/benefits, with improved or stable findings throughout.
Similarly, Jersey Mike’s employee rates beat category averages and sub categories. Culver’s and McDonald’s were above the line nearly across the board. McDonald’s was relatively stable compared to 2024. Culver’s improved in most metrics.
Diversity/inclusion remained the attribute with the highest average rating in quick service. Culture/values and work/life balance rounded out the top three. Akin to prior years, compensation and benefits produced the lowest average ratings. In-N-Out, El Pollo Loco, Del Taco, Salad and Go, and Jersey Mike’s topped the pay scale at $17 per hour versus an average of $15.05. Managers at Carl’s Jr. (heavy West Coast footprint) upped to the No. 1 spot for reported salaries as McDonald’s dipped to No. 2.
Fast casual findings
William Blair separated fast casual in its study. Raising Cane’s paced the field like it did last year and has measured in the top three since 2016. It also grabbed the lead spot in all measured attributes, with an across-the-board hike in absolute ratings—many to multi-year highs.
CAVA, after placing in the middle of the pack in 2024, surged to No. 2 in overall employee ratings and held above-average numbers in all areas except senior management. Habit Burger & Grill and Portillo’s were the only other brands to achieve unanimous above-average ratings. Within William Blair’s coverage, CAVA, Potbelly, and Portillo’s hit above-the-line overall ratings. CAVA and Portillo’s improved year-over-year and Potbelly was stable.
Like quick service, diversity/inclusion was the highest rated subcategory. Culture/values, career opportunities, and work-life balance followed. Wages for hourly employees in fast casual climbed 5 percent (up 77 cents per hour). Three chains tied for the top hourly pay spot at $19 per (Sweetgreen, Pret-A-Manger, and Potbelly) over the fast casual average of $16.09. Portillo’s was the lowest at $14. GM wages spiked 7 percent, with Pret-A-Manger climbing atop the field.
Specialty results
In the specialty category, Dutch Bros headlined for the fifth year in a row. It displaced Starbucks in 2021 and hasn’t looked back. The brand secured the top spot in three of six measured attributes outside of work/life balance (7 Brew) and career opportunities (also 7 Brew). Starbucks posted mixed results, as it has in recent reports. The chain reported an overall ranking tied for seventh and produced measured rankings at or above average, including the No. 1 spot in compensation/benefits.
Peet’s Coffee & Tea and 7 Brew had strong showings (third and fifth, respectively). Caribou, as noted, vaulted to No. 2 overall—it was tied fifth last year—with improvement in every metric except work/life balance and diversity/inclusion.
Diversity/inclusion was the highest rated subcategory followed by culture/values and work/life balance (tied). Hourly wages in the field lifted 17 percent (an increase of $2.60 per hour). Philz Coffee was No. 1 at $23 over the average of $17.87. Smoothie King was lowest at $13. Specialty GM wages hiked 9 percent ton average.
Below is a look at how casual dining fared.
Larger findings
Although wages have risen dramatically out of the pandemic, the correlation between compensation/benefits and employee satisfaction was the lowest of the six measured attributes (culture/values, career opportunities, work/life balance, senior management, and diversity/inclusion). Essentially, given this trend has held consistent since 2022, higher pay in foodservice doesn’t necessarily result in better employee satisfaction.
However, compensation/benefits and work/life balance were the only two attributes with rising correlations to employee satisfaction over the past year. This suggests higher pay has become table stakes in a wage-inflated restaurant landscape. The same is true of work/life balance. Winning through those measures is how leading brands are taking share in the war for talent.
On an absolute basis, qualitative attributes such as culture/values, senior management, and work/life balance were the leading factors in employee satisfaction, with correlations of 89, 82, and 81 percent, respectively.”
“As a result,” William Blair said, “we believe restaurants need to reexamine ways to highlight or alter less tangible parts of their businesses to better align with the softer [and stickier] attributes that lead to higher employee satisfaction.”
Methodology to note:
William Blair collects data annually from Glassdoor.com, which it’s done since 2015, including employee ratings measured on a 5.0 scale for items such as culture and values, as well as aggregated salary data for equivalent-level hourly employees and GMs. But to note, Glassdoor does not authenticate reviews. So since the data is presented on a cumulative basis, the marginal weight of a review can vary depending on the existing number, leading to more volatility for those with fewer reviews.
Also, all reviews are voluntary, meaning there could be selection bias leading to skewed results positive or negative. “Although we acknowledge these inherent limitations, we believe that the stability of concept rankings over time and the relationships between subscores and restaurant subsectors illustrate that our approach provides meaningful insights into relative levels of employee satisfaction.”
