McDonald’s fans outnumber their rivals

21 October, 2012

McDonald’s has the biggest fan-base of any eating-out brand in Britain. Pizza Hut is the best supported restaurant chain, while Wetherspoon’s is the pub brand with the most active advocates. The findings come from the Peach BrandTrack survey, which tracks the ratings of the country leading eating-out chains.

McDonald’s can claim 21% of the adult population as committed fans. Next comes Greggs, with 19.8% of the country in its fan club. Two more fast food chains, KFC and Subway, come third and fourth, while Costa is the best supported coffee shop coming in fifth overall.

And how is this conclusion arrived at? The size of a brand’s fan-base has been calculated by multiplying the number of people using it over a six-month period by the proportion who would actually recommend it to friends or family. Those 'brand advocates' are the people that gave the brand a top rating of 9 or 10 on a 0-10 scale when asked how likely they are to recommend it.

The top 10 rankings are completed by Pizza Hut, Wetherspoons, Starbucks, Nando’s and Burger King. Nando’s, which can claim 11.6% of the population as fans, again beats big restaurant rivals Frankie & Benny’s and PizzaExpress in the popularity stakes.

Bubbling under the top 10 are in order: Frankie & Benny’s, Harvester, PizzaExpress, Caffe Nero, Toby and TGI Fridays.

BRANDS WITH THE BIGGEST ‘FAN BASE’
- COMBINATION OF SCALE AND ADVOCACY
1    McDonalds     21.0%
2    Greggs    19.8%
3    KFC     16.5%
4    Subway    15.5%
5    Costa    15.2%
6    Pizza Hut     14.3%
7    Wetherspoons    12.9%
8    Starbucks     12.8%
9    Nandos    11.6%
10    Burger King    10.7%
Source: Peach BrandTrack, May 2012