Americans Love This Steakhouse More Than Any Other Restaurant

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1. 24/7 Wall St. Insights

• Despite inflation, sales are up at restaurants and satisfaction in full-service restaurants increased
• Two steakhouses capture the top spot in customer satisfaction
• Find out if any of the restaurant chains mentioned here are among 2 Dividend Legends To Hold Forever

One of America’s long-time seafood restaurants is apparently ready to make a comeback . Red Lobster filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May and announced the closures of over 100 locations. But now, as it is being sold to a new owner, it could be ready to rejuvenate its brand and adapt to the current environment. Whether it succeeds or not remains to be seen.

One thing is certain, it would have to learn its lessons from the “$20 endless shrimp” debacle, which ended up causing significant losses to the chain. But Red Lobster is apparently the exception as despite inflation and customers making different dining out decisions, the industry’s sales are up. In fact, according to the National Restaurant Associatio n, the food service industry is forecast to reach $1 trillion in sales in 2024.

For now, even as overall customer satisfaction with full-service restaurants is growing, Red Lobster remains one of the lowest-scoring restaurants in the American Customer Satisfaction Index -- and scoring worse than last year. While two other restaurants have the same ACSI score as Red Lobster, one, The Cheesecake Factory, has the same score as last year and the other, IHOP, improved considerably.

To find how well customers are satisfied with large full-service restaurant chains nationwide, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the ACSI’s Restaurant and Food Delivery Study 2024 . We used the change in score from last year to break ties when possible. We added information on the 13 major chains in the report using mostly public records such as Security and Exchange Commission filings or the company’s own websites. The information includes ownership, sales in the most recently complete fiscal year, number of locations (from the most recent quarterly report when possible), and the type of restaurants. We also added popular menu items for each chain, which came from such sites as Ranker, Mashed, and others.

Customer satisfaction with full-service restaurants overall increased significantly, from a score of 81 (out of 100) in 2023 to a score of 84 this year -- a 4% increase. The score for all other, smaller restaurant chains, is the same. (Also see: This Fast-Food Chain Has the Absolute Lowest Customer Satisfaction Score .)

Only two restaurants -- both steakhouses -- scored higher than the average and took the top spot: LongHorn Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse. Both also improved considerably, climbing 4% from a score of 82 last year to 85 this year. The report notes that despite inflation, the two chains managed to either keep prices relatively low or provide better value -- to the apparent satisfaction of their customers.

Olive Garden and Cracker Barrel are next in customer satisfaction, though the former improved considerably while the latter remained the same. Olive Garden introduced its “3 for Me” menu (again providing perceived value) and concentrated on service.

The restaurant that made the biggest stride is IHOP, which jumped 8% from a 72 score last year to 78 in 2024. IHOP, by the way, is bringing back its all-you-can-eat pancake deal for a limited time. Meanwhile Outback Steakhouse slipped the most, down 4% (from 83 to 80). The restaurant also announced it is closing half its restaurants in Hong Kong.

Why are we covering this

According to the National Restaurant Association, Americans love going out to eat with nine in 10 adults saying they enjoy going to restaurants. At the same time, consumers are more value conscious these days. With this in mind, it is interesting to see which chains managed to provide better customer satisfaction and which provided lower than average satisfaction.

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