This is part of NRN’s Consumer Picks special report, produced in partnership with WD Partners. The study rates top restaurant chains in the limited-service and full-service segments based on customer preferences. Visit Consumer Picks on NRN.com for more information. For the full report, including detailed rankings on more than 100 chains, pick up the Sept. 5th issue of Nation’s Restaurant News.

Limited-service restaurant chains — whether quick service or fast casual — often hold the most heated relationships with consumers. Brands elicit some love, some hate and very little in between.

Consumers have created cult followings around Chick-fil-A, In N Out Burger and Chipotle, for example, while some of the oldest restaurant brands in foodservice, from McDonald’s to KFC, continue to arouse consumer likes and dislikes decades after they took foodservice by storm.

In the inaugural Consumer Picks study from Nation’s Restaurant News and WD Partners, the limited-service survey field included 92 restaurant chains, including both quick-service and fast-casual brands. It is one of the first consumer surveys to include some of the newest brands to take the restaurant industry by storm, from Five Guys Burgers & Fries to Potbelly Sandwich Shop.

Consumers frequenting a limited-service restaurant said they find cleanliness the most important attribute of dining out, followed by food quality, value, service and menu variety.

• Learn more about Consumer Picks methodology
• Visit the Consumer Picks homepage

The full results for each of the 92 chains can be found in the full Consumer Picks special report in the September 5th issue of Nation’s Restaurant News. The magazine also outlines the foodservice industry’s full-service sector, and mid-scale, family-dining segment.

Here, check out a sneak peak of the top 10 limited-service restaurants, beginning with consumers’ No. 10 pick, Jason’s Deli.

Next: Jason's Deli