Pulled using http://placer.ai software which tracks cell phones to determine visits by location

Okay, if you normalize it to account for the number of restaurants per area (and restaurants in general(, what happens? I would guess that In-N-Out only has that many return visits because of the separation between stores, and the lack of them. I can get the same food at three McD's in a day within two miles. Why should I be loyal to a location?

True, the top places are all somewhat "rare" which causes that denominator to be low.

> Why should I be loyal to a location?

Depends on the fast food place. Some have better management and stricter quality control than others. It's not really much of a problem at In 'n Out or Chick Fil A, where my experience from one location to another I get pretty much the same product and same service. But some other places, like Arby's or Whataburger or Jack in the Box, I have had wildly different levels of quality from one location to the next. Sometimes you can really tell when a good manager and/or owner is in charge of a place.

Even still, INO has got to be the most profitable franchise to own, right?

One thing I might be interested in seeing is a plot graph with visits per location on one axis, and number of locations on the other axis. Then some outliers might really stand out - like McDonald's high on both axes, while Church's on the other end of the scale, low on both axes.

And then there's Popeyes, where the service ranges from general disinterest to outright hostility.

That's the thing tho it's not a franchise.. it's privately owned by the founding family. That's why they still control the quality and its the best basic burger out there

Good visualization of why mean and median are important to differentiate.

Damn now im hungry for some Raising cain's

Big Kahuna Burger would smoke all of these other wannabes.

Except mathematically it doesn’t matter which McDonald’s you go to because you’re still contributing to the overall average.

In n out has by far the best consistency I've seen. My sample size of chicken fil a is only 3, but they've all been slightly different in quality. Then take the opposite end, Runza in Nebraska ranges from really good to disgusting and almost unedible. Same with sonic.

This is incorrect. Now, all restaurants are Taco Bell.

The secret spice is anger.

Big Kahuna Burger! That's that Hawaiian burger joint. I heard they got some tasty burgers. I ain't never had one myself, how are they?

Upvoting the first comment on the data presentation rather than the experiences with the various chains.

Every time I go by my local in-and-out, there is a crazy line. I try to do some back of the envelope math and conclude crazy money. Would be interesting if there is any published revenue by location. Btw, there is a Wendy’s half a block away and always looks very empty in comparison.

Seems as though "short visits excluded" raises a lot of questions -- does that mean that a place that does mostly drive thru business (say, Jack in the box) might still be serving more customers than a primarily sit-down place (Panera, chick-fil-A)? Also, at least where I live, In n Out has horrendously long wait times in their drive thru, where as others are much faster, sonmaybe their sit down and their drive through visits count as "long"?

So I'm aware of the Chick a Fil, homophonbia - religious links

Any other controversial ones there,

I love this, because as a Briy I have only heard of a few of these places. Looks like I need to try an In n Out Burger.

Good lord, people are... I have no words...

All of the businesses above the average line serve the worst, most unhealthy, tasteless and expensive food.

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And Wendy's is FAR superior to in n out!

^^^found the Wendy’s owner! I’ll give it a try, it’s been years!

Nah i just had a couple wack ass burgers with luke warm unsalted fries at in n out

in n out makes a really good basic cheeseburger, shakeshack has really creative burgers and some of the others aren’t even that expensive (see five guys prices)