10 established fast-casual restaurant chains consumers love

Chicken Salad Chick, an Atlanta-based chicken salad concept founded in 2008 that now includes over 225 restaurants. The brand scored 7.7 for food, 1.8 for price/value and 4.4 for loyalty/referral. Chicken Salad Chick’s food scores received nearly eight times as much praise as complaints and likely drove a high score for loyalty and referral.

Cheba Hut, a Fort Collins, Colorado-based toasted sub concept that was founded in 1998 and now includes nearly 50 locations. This brand scored a category-leading 8.2 on food, a 1.6 on price/value and a 3.8 on loyalty and referral.

Clean Eatz, a healthy food franchise founded in North Carolina in 2011 that now includes more than 85 locations in more than 20 states. The brand scored high for food quality (6.3), price/value (1.4) and loyalty and referral (2.4).

Velvet Taco, a Dallas-based concept founded in 2011 that now includes 30 locations. The brand scored 6.4 for food, 0.7 for price/value and 5.2 for loyalty/referral. Velvet Taco’s scores show that more customers expressed negative feedback than positive feedback on price and value, but those customers continued to show loyalty and referral likely because of high food scores.

D’Angelo Grilled Sandwiches, a Massachusetts-based sandwich concept founded in 1968 that now includes over 80 locations in five states. D’Angelo follows a similar pattern to Velvet Taco, with high food and loyalty/referral scores, but an inverted 0.5 score on price/value.

Skyline Chili, a Cincinnati-based concept founded in 1949 that now includes more than 150 locations. The concept scored 5.4 on food, 1.6 on price/value and 2.4 on loyalty and referral.

Maple Street Biscuit Company, a comfort food concept founded in 2012 that has grown to about 50 units and was acquired by Cracker Barrel in 2019. The brand scored a 5.0 on food, a 1.0 on price/value and a 4.6 on loyalty/referral.

Biscuitville, with about 70 locations, is a made-from-scratch biscuit concept that was founded in 1966 in North Carolina. This brand scored a 6.8 on food, a 3.1 on price/value and a 3.0 on loyalty/referral.

Muscle Maker Grill, a health-focused, Texas-based concept that was founded in 1995. The brand scored a 2.5 on food, a 0.6 on price/value and a 1.1 on loyalty/referral.

Greek’s Pizzeria, an Indiana-based pizza concept dating back to 1969 that now counts more than 140 restaurants on its roster. The brand scored a 4.7 on food, a 2.1 on price/value and a 2.0 on loyalty/referral.