News

Harris poll yields dim glow for restaurant brands

February 14, 2017

These are not only tumultuous but very partisan times in the U.S., and a Harris Pollindicated that the public perception of foodservice brands often swirls around the actions, beliefs and politics of a brand or a brand leader's publicized views on high-interest topics in the national conversation.

The Harris Poll Reputation Quotient, which used polling data from 23,000 Americans about their views on brands' social responsibility, emotional appeal, products and services, vision and leadership, financial performance and workplace environment, issued reputation ratings to the 100 most visible U.S. companies. The Top 100 list included Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, McDonald's, Starbucks and Yum Brands.  

This year, more than half of the companies in that top 100 scored above average perceptions with 17 companies perceived as having "excellent" reputations, while 34 were labeled "very good." Interestingly, no foodservice brands landed in the "excellent" category, and only one foodservice brand was represented in the top 25 (Chick-fil-A, which was rated very good). Likewise, only a single restaurant brand showed up in the bottom of the list, in the form of the much-beleaguered Chipotle, which got a "fair" rating. 

The other four foodservice brands included in the polling scored relatively unremarkably for overall reputation, falling between the 55th slot on the list for Starbucks, which got a "good" rating, followed by Yum Brands and Burger King — which both also got good ratings — then McDonald's with a fair rating at No. 74, and finally, Chipotle at the No. 84 position. 

The deeper look
Harris Poll said in this study, brands like Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby — both of which have had their leadership's mostly conservative beliefs publicized widely — scoring far higher with Republicans polled, while Democrats perceive brands like Target to have better reputations.

"Values play a bigger role than ever before in corporate reputation, and the business significance of a company's reputation has never been higher," Harris Poll owner, The Stagwell Group's CEO Mark J. Penn said in a news release. "Consumers are keenly interested in how companies engage with the world, and that includes corporate ideals. As the red versus blue duel of politics impacts corporate reputation, we expect to see more alignment along party beliefs."