Arby's faces criticism over food quality and experience
The 61-year-old chain, which has 3,320 locations across the US, had the lowest sales of the six Inspire Brands chains in 2024. But Arby's is not the only restaurant facing a wave of customer complaints. Arby's ranked second in the list of sub-par chains, with only Panera Bread receiving more customer complaints.
The fast casual restaurant has faced backlash for ingredients, menu offerings and deaths resulting in lawsuits . Social media users were furious during the spring after the brand shifted towards bread that has been par-baked and frozen and shuttered fresh dough factories . According to Eat This, Not That!, customers are unhappy with the trajectory the 38-year-old company is taking.
'Panera was amazing 20 years ago. The quality has gone way down,' a disappointed customer wrote on social media. 'I got 3 things a sandwich, a flatbread pizza and something else.. it tasted like the food was made by 5 year olds that were learning about food preparation,' a customer shared on Reddit . 'And just so stupidly over priced for something I could probably go to Target and get at half the cost and better quality.'
The other brands that Americans claim have 'fallen off hard' include Sonic, Burger King, KFC, Subway and Taco Bell. Sonic's customers have slammed the restaurant lately — including one that claimed it ' never hit the mark .' Although it is unafraid to come at McDonald's with three $1 items , this was not enough to stop one customer branding the chain 'beyond mediocre.'
Burger King customers have been struggling to get over the chain's 'bland' offerings, which could be one of the reasons behind its first quarter sales decline . KFC has earned a number of complaints despite being the world's largest chicken chain. A customer insisted its chicken had 'too much breading' and was 'too salty' — along with a claim of it being 'too pricy.'
Restaurant chains that left customers disappointed
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