Recent research published by Roy Morgan has shown that 11.8 million people visit a quick service restaurant (QSR) every month in Australia. This figure is 13% higher on what it was four years ago meaning more and more Australians are frequenting QSR’s however, it also means that the competition in the QSR sector is far greater.

So who topped the charts for customer satisfaction this year? It was our favourite healthy burger joint, Grill’d, who had 90.7% of their customers fairly or very satisfied with their experience. They managed to get themselves above last year’s winners, Guzman y Gomez, who had an 89.3% rate of satisfaction this year. Most improved goes to Pizza Hut who bettered themselves on the customer satisfaction scale by 9.6% landing them with 78% of their customers fairly or very satisfied. And the wooden spoon award goes to McDonalds with only 66.2% of their customers being satisfied with their experience, a 0.1% decrease on last year’s score.

Guzman y Gomez in World Square, Sydney - photograph by Thomas Dalhoff for Mima

What contributes to overall customer satisfaction? According to the literature, there are four major factors that contribute to customer satisfaction. They are:

Food Quality
Service Quality
Physical Environment
Hygiene and Cleanliness

Within each of these components of customer satisfaction comes another set of variables including factors such as taste, attitudes and behaviour of staff, restaurant themes and cleanliness of the food and beverage outlet. If a food and beverage outlet can achieve the highest standard across all factors of customer satisfaction, customers are highly likely to return to the outlet and recommend others to visit creating a strong customer flow and increasing the customer visitation rate. Working towards the gold standard in customer satisfaction is more holistic than serving up a delicious plate of food; it’s being served it with a smile, in a space that provokes a positive experience through both the design and the upkeep of the surroundings.

Grill'd, Flinders Lane - designed by Techne Architects (image via Couturing) — Grill'd, Flinders Lane - designed by Techne Architects (*image via Couturing*)

Taking a closer look at Grill’d, it is easy to pick out the factors that contribute to the satisfaction of their customers. The burgers are more often than not delicious, fresh and just what you expect to get from a QSR burger joint. They use local ingredients and let you know they are doing so to ensure transparency. The teams are friendly, personable and willing to help out if you need it. There is a consistency in the standard of the staff including uniforms, greetings and food service across the outlets which makes it easy for customers to know what they are getting when they choose to dine at any of the Grill’d outlets. When it comes to the design of the Grill’d outlets, there has been no shortage of effort put in to ensure the spaces are fun, friendly and relaxed spaces to be in. The QSR chain has even involved hospitality-focussed design studio, Techne Architects to design some of their Melbourne outlets (Flinders Lane, CBD and Smith Street, Collingwood) elevating these stores above your average QSR that you would find on the street. Grill’d doesn’t serve the best burger you’ll ever eat but they also don’t say they will do that. They do say they’ll serve you a wholesome burger, made with farm-to-plate ingredients in a no-fuss manner time and time again (obviously everyone slips up every once in a while!) which is why 90.7% of Grill’d customers loved their experience and have come out on top of the customer experience charts for QSR’s in Australia this year.