Who Rules in Fast-Food Foot Traffic

When it comes to foot traffic in fast-food restaurants, bigger isn’t always better. That’s the conclusion of a new foot-traffic analysis by dataplor on regional and national trends in Americans’ fast-food preferences.

For example, on the national level, the analysis found that while McDonald’s (about 13,600 restaurants) and Subway (roughly 20,500 locales) are most likely to be found in states across the country, it’s Wendy’s (600 sites) that checked in as the most popular restaurant in terms of foot traffic, followed by Raising Cane’s (800 restaurants).

Similarly, regional favorites like In-n-Out often hold favor even with fewer locations. Wendy’s and McDonald’s were the only brands that appeared in the top five for both foot traffic and number of stores, showing once again that localized loyalty can outweigh presence.

The locality factor remained steadfast when looking at regional patterns. In the West, In-N-Out Burger (420 units) was ranked number one for foot traffic in five states, despite not making the top five for total number of stores in a single regional state.

In the Northeast, Five Guys (1500 locales), which originated in Washington, D.C., and Jersey Mikes (3000) founded on the Jersey Shore, ranked second and third in the region in terms of the number of times they appear in the top five for total number of stores in a given state, and Five Guys also came in third place for overall foot traffic distribution. Wisconsin-born Culver’s (1000 sites) was a contender for both popularity and ubiquity in the Midwest, coming in second and fourth places, respectively.

Dataplor CEO Geoff Michener said the study offers “a glimpse of how location intelligence can uncover actionable insights about consumer behaviors,” including optimizing marketing strategies and identifying growth opportunities.

Click here for more from the study.