McDonald's Has The Worst-Quality Fast-Food, New Consumer Report Says

We've heard it multiple times before: big-name fast-food brands are on the downturn while regional chains that pay attention to nutrition and ingredient-sourcing are increasingly becoming the go-to favorite. A consumer report from RBC Capital Markets confirms this theory, and ranks McDonald's as the worst-quality fast-food chain in America.

"We wonder if McDonald's can make a bold move to leapfrog the competition with regard to quality — something that would be difficult at McDonald's scale," RBC Capital Markets analyst David Palmer told The Street.

Burger King and Jack-in-the-Box were ranked No. 10 and No. 11, respectively, out of 12. The top three chains, meanwhile, were of the smaller, regional variety: In-N-Out, Chick-fil-A, and Culver's (a primarily Midwestern fast-casual restaurant chain) were ranked at the top of RBC Capital Markets' list.

"For all-family brands, the bar may be higher on ingredients, and the media and promotional tools these (big brand) companies employed a decade ago seems to be far less impactful today," the report said.

We noticed, however, that there were multiple fast-food and fast-casual restaurants missing from the list, like Taco Bell, Subway, Pizza Hut, and Domino's. In addition, In-N-Out may have been the number one restaurant in terms of quality and customer satisfaction according to this survey — but where was Shake Shack, In-N-Out's East Coast competition?