Thereâs something comforting in the familiarity of brands we know and love. The safety of knowing that, no matter where you are in the world, when you see that brandâs logo you know exactly what to expect from them.
Thatâs especially true for fast food brands. Take Burger King and McDonaldâs. Whether youâre traveling for leisure or work, and find yourself in unfamiliar territory, thereâs just nothing like seeing those famous golden arches or orange burger buns and feeling that, in a way, youâre home.
Is that too dramatic (or perhaps just reflective of my feelings towards delicious, salty junk food)? It certainly got us thinking recently about the role of local business reviews for some of the worldâs biggest brands. How do these global icons stack up from a local perspective, and could they learn a thing or two about review management?
We gathered the Google reviews for every Burger King and McDonaldâs outlet in the USA (thatâs over 20,000 locations!) to see how their average review ratings compare. Who will come out as the top-reviewed brand in the USA? Choose your player… this is the Big Brand Review Showdown!
- Burger King has the better average Google star rating in 23 US states.
- McDonaldâs has the better average Google star rating in 19 US states, as well as the District of Columbia.
- Burger King and McDonaldâs tie for the highest average Google ratings in eight states.
- The average rating for a Burger King or McDonaldâs outlet in the USA is 3.5.
The Big Review Showdown: Who Wins the Battle Royale (with Cheese)?
We took each restaurant locationâs review rating to analyze a set of averages:
- The average Google review rating per brand by state.
- The average Google review rating per brand for the whole of the USA.
- The average Google review rating for both brands across the USA.
The average Google rating for both brands across the USA sits at 3.5 stars. So, while we canât say that one brand has a higher national average review rating, we can look at which states they average the highest in to determine who wins the lionâs share.
Youâll see on the map above that there is a fairly even picture of ownership. However, we can reveal that Burger King just about takes the crown from McDonaldâs, with 23 of the total states won, compared to McDonaldâs winning 19 (plus the District of Columbia). The remaining eight states are tied.Â
Burger Kingâs wins tend to be in states clustered around the center of the USA, while the states won by McDonaldâs are most commonly based around the coast. This feels like a good time to make a Filet-O-FishÂź jokeâŠ
Itâs interesting that there isnât a lot of variation in the state averages: the lowest average sits at 3.3 and the highest at 3.8 stars. There arenât many areas across the nation where either brand particularly excels above their 3.5 baselines! So, letâs take a look at each brandâs state average Google ratings.
Burger King: Where Does the King Reign Supreme? đ
- New York, South Dakota, and West Virginia all share the highest average Burger King rating across their restaurants, at 3.7.
- New Hampshire has the lowest state average for Burger King restaurants, at 2.9.
Considering New York state has the fourth-highest number of locations in the US, with nearly 200,000 business reviews across 351 locations, itâs pretty impressive that it’s managed to maintain the joint-highest average review rating.
However, less than half of all US states meet the national average for Burger Kingâs Google ratings, with 24 states averaging 3.5 and above. This leaves 26 states (27 with DC counted) sitting below average.
Meanwhile, the individual top-rated Burger King in the USA is 3040 Ella Blvd, Houston, Texas. A quick look at its Google reviews shows a striking number that highlight specific restaurant employees by name, and applauding their customer service. Keep doing what youâre doing, team BK Ella Blvd!
McDonaldâs: Where Are People Lovinâ It Most? đ
- Hawaii is the top-rated state across both McDonaldâs and Burger King restaurants, with an average Google rating of 3.8.
- Utah has the lowest state average, with an average Google rating of 3.2.
The picture for McDonaldâs is quite similar to Burger King, with 29 of the US states sitting below the 3.5 baselines. So why is this measure so significant, you might ask? Review research has found that the difference between a 3.5 Google rating and a 3.7 rating can be huge for local businesses in terms of converting searchers to website visitors, encouraging them to get directions, or contacting a business.
The highest average Google rating for any McDonaldâs is 4.2. While a fair way above the baseline of 3.5, it was surprising that there are no McDonaldâs restaurants truly exceeding through their local reviews.
Nuggets of Information
Consider yourself a fast food super-fan? We created this key points of information map to highlight some tasty little nuggets of additional facts.Â
- The most-reviewed McDonaldâs in the USA is 6875 Sand Lake Rd in Orlando, Floridaâalso known as the Worldâs Largest Entertainment McDonaldâsâwith 18,590 Google reviews (and probably even more by the time you’re reading this)!
- The top-rated outlet overall in the US is Burger King 3040 Ella Blvd in Houston, Texas, with a Google star rating of 4.4.
- Hawaii tops the states with the highest average review rating across both food brands, with McDonaldâs averaging 3.8 stars.
- Together, the 7,216 Burger Kings across the USA have 4.06 million Google reviews (an average of 562 reviews per restaurant).
- Together, the 13,247 McDonaldâs restaurants across the USA have 16.3 million Google reviews (an average of 1,231 reviews per restaurant).
Dippinâ into the Detail: What Can Burger King and McDonaldâs Learn From Their Local Business Reviews?
So, Burger King comes out on top as the brand with the most âwonâ states for the highest Google review ratings. But Hawaii is the top-rated state overall with McDonaldâs. Itâs a fairly even picture, with no clear sweepâand a lot of below-average locations!
Of course, as such giants in the fast food market, you might think âwell, who cares about their business reviews?!â. This is where we’re going to switch gears and get a bit more technical, to discuss what these findings might mean for those running franchise businesses.
Love at First French Fry: First Impressions Count!
New Hampshire saw the lowest state average. For a state with just 31 Burger King restaurants, almost 60% of these are rated under 3.0 on Google. A quick look at some of the Google reviews for these locations highlights some worrying trends that franchisees should be paying attention to.
Google is forever implementing changes to improve the way review content is displayed to users. With features like review keywords and filters appearing at the top of Google reviews, it means businesses with low review ratings should be concerned about what these might be. In the case of some of New Hampshireâs lowest-rated Burger King restaurants, negative keywords like âdisgustingâ are appearing front and center.Â
Dealing With Negative and Average Feedback
Another standout location to note is the most-reviewed McDonaldâs in the USA: 6875 Sand Lake Rd in Orlando, Floridaâalso known as the World’s Largest Entertainment McDonald’sâis right around the corner from some of the most popular Universal theme parks. This location (at the time of writing) has a staggering 18,590 reviews!
Even more impressive is the fact that it has maintained a 4.0 average rating. This McDonaldâs, as you can imagine, is more unique than others in the US, with exclusive menu items (you can expect to find pizza and bolognese here!), over 100 arcade games, an animatronic homage to 80âs McDonaldâs icon, Mac Tonight, and a huge play area.
The wider point, though, is the conundrum that many franchisees or enterprise business owners will face: you want more reviews, but with greater scale comes greater risk. A higher number of Google reviews on average can cause your review rating to become, well, average.
A business location attracting customers in its thousands (or tens of thousands in this case), might also struggle to keep on top of rogue feedback: fake or misleading reviews, or just average and negative feedback that could have been responded to.
The importance of monitoring your business reviews and responding to all feedback, whether positive or negative, should never be underestimatedâeven if you are Burger King or McDonaldâs!Â
Finger Lickinâ Competition
With so many speedy dining choices in the immediate proximity of most Burger King and McDonaldâs locations, competition from rival chains and smaller, independent restaurants remains fierce. If youâre craving a cheeseburger, fries, and a shake, letâs face itâyouâll may well have a lot of options
Pulling up the Google reviews of the nearest fast food options is easy and almost second nature to most of us these days. So, if your nearest Burger King or McDonaldâs contains off-putting review keywords like âdisgustingâ, âcoldâ or ârudeâ at the top of its profile, or below-average star ratings, you wonât need to look far for a more appealing competitor!
While they might be two of the worldâs biggest fast food chains, it means that franchisees and enterprise business owners shouldnât rest on their laurels. Reinforcing excellent customer service, consistent product offerings, and investing in business reviews are invaluable for businesses at a local scale.
Thanks for reading the Big Brand Review Showdown. We hope you enjoyed it!Â
How did your state fareâand were you rooting for Burger King or McDonaldâs? Do you want to see more brand review showdowns from us? Tag us with your thoughts on Twitter!
Methodology
This research was conducted by obtaining the Google Business Profile business information for every Burger King and McDonaldâs location in the USA in February 2023, and creating a script to retrieve their Google review ratings, and total number of reviews.
But with Reputation Management tools, you don’t need to worry about clever scripts or number crunchingâwith your location information, we can pull all of this review data for you in one, easy-to-use dashboard called Reputation Manager. It can help you to Get Reviews, Monitor Reviews, and Showcase Reviews.
You can see the full leaderboard of states below:
| State | Winner | Avg. Review Rating | State | Winner | Avg. Review Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (AL) | TIE | 3.4 | Montana (MT) | MCDONALDâS | 3.5 |
| Alaska (AK) | MCDONALDâS | 3.6 | Nebraska (NE) | BURGER KING | 3.4 |
| Arizona (AZ) | BURGER KING | 3.5 | Nevada (NV) | MCDONALDâS | 3.5 |
| Arkansas (AR) | BURGER KING | 3.6 | New Hampshire (NH) | MCDONALDâS | 3.5 |
| California (CA) | MCDONALDâS | 3.6 | New Jersey (NJ) | MCDONALDâS | 3.6 |
| Colorado (CO) | MCDONALDâS | 3.3 | New Mexico (NM) | BURGER KING | 3.6 |
| Connecticut (CT) | MCDONALDâS | 3.6 | New York (NY) | BURGER KING | 3.7 |
| Delaware (DE) | TIE | 3.4 | North Carolina (NC) | BURGER KING | 3.5 |
| District of Columbia (DC) | MCDONALDâS | 3.6 | North Dakota (ND) | MCDONALDâS | 3.6 |
| Florida (FL) | MCDONALDâS | 3.5 | Ohio (OH) | BURGER KING | 3.4 |
| Georgia (GA) | BURGER KING | 3.4 | Oklahoma (OK) | BURGER KING | 3.6 |
| Hawaii (HI) | MCDONALDâS | 3.8 | Oregon (OR) | MCDONALDâS | 3.4 |
| Idaho (ID) | TIE | 3.6 | Pennsylvania (PA) | BURGER KING | 3.6 |
| Illinois (IL) | MCDONALDâS | 3.5 | Rhode Island (RI) | BURGER KING | 3.5 |
| Indiana (IN) | BURGER KING | 3.5 | South Carolina (SC) | TIE | 3.3 |
| Iowa (IA) | TIE | 3.4 | South Dakota (SD) | BURGER KING | 3.7 |
| Kansas (KS) | MCDONALDâS | 3.4 | Tennessee (TN) | BURGER KING | 3.5 |
| Kentucky (KY) | BURGER KING | 3.6 | Texas (TX) | MCDONALDâS | 3.6 |
| Louisiana (LA) | TIE | 3.4 | Utah (UT) | BURGER KING | 3.3 |
| Maine (ME) | BURGER KING | 3.5 | Vermont (VT) | BURGER KING | 3.6 |
| Maryland (MD) | BURGER KING | 3.6 | Virginia (VA) | TIE | 3.4 |
| Massachusetts (MA) | BURGER KING | 3.5 | Washington (WA) | MCDONALDâS | 3.5 |
| Michigan (MI) | TIE | 3.4 | West Virginia (WV) | BURGER KING | 3.7 |
| Minnesota (MN) | MCDONALDâS | 3.4 | Wisconsin (WI) | MCDONALDâS | 3.3 |
| Mississippi (MS) | BURGER KING | 3.5 | Wyoming (WY) | MCDONALDâS | 3.3 |
| Missouri (MO) | BURGER KING | 3.5 |
