5 Burger Chains With the Most Food Quality Complaints In 2024
Food quality is one area that restaurants of all sizes and varieties can't afford to overlook in 2024. Whether you're talking fast food or fine dining, customers are grappling with rising prices—it's never been more expensive to enjoy a meal away from home. As such, consumers rightfully expect a certain level of quality in exchange for their dollars.
Enjoying a great burger on a budget used to be as easy as a trip to the local drive-thru. Nowadays, finding a halfway decent burger that doesn't break the bank is much more difficult. For example, the average price of a meal at McDonald's increased by a significant 22% ($6.21 to $7.57) between 2022 and 2024, according to a study by the personal finance site MoneyGeek. Similarly, Wendy's has seen its average prices jump by 31.8% ($9.41 to $12.41) over the past two years.
Once upon a time, burger chains across the nation provided a fast, affordable way for people and families to grab a quick, satisfying bite to eat. Fast forward to today, and consumers are staring up in disbelief at steep menu prices. Even worse, as prices have steadily increased like a determined runner jogging uphill, overall burger quality has largely remained stagnant, and in some cases, deteriorated.
"The whole conceit was that you were getting some OK-level of food for a low price and you could get it quick," Kevin Roberts, a Virginia high school teacher, recently told CBS News. "Now I can't justify the expense. If I'm paying $15 for a burger and fry and drink and it's McDonalds quality, forget about it—I'm going home."
Frustrated customers haven't been shy about voicing their complaints. Let's take a look at five burger chains with the most food quality complaints in 2024.
Burger King
While the home of the Whopper has seen a more modest increase in average meal prices in comparison to some competitors—up 12.3% since 2022, according to the MoneyGeek study—it's still been a fairly tough year for Burger King when it comes to customer quality complaints. BK and its parent company is currently embroiled in a lawsuit accusing the burger chain of misleading customers by portraying its trademark Whopper as 35% larger than the real burger on menu boards.
Meanwhile, another complaint posted to social media by Twitch streamer B (@MustBTV) earlier this year attracted the attention of national media outlets. In his posts, B detailed his frustrations after waiting in the designated pick-up parking spot only to find his now-cold food waiting for him inside. Oh, and he received the wrong order. BK reached out on social media and offered B $10 to make up for the mix up, but the streamer was hardly impressed by the offer.
"40 minutes to get food from Burger King is unacceptable," he wrote on X. "I'd rather spend my cash where they value my time and provide decent service. Did you really think a measly $10 would make up for an hour of waiting?"
A recurring theme among disgruntled BK customers in recent years is a yearning for the tasty Whoppers and Original Chicken Sandwiches of yesterday. According to many patrons, that same quality just isn't there anymore. "Burger King used to be my favorite fast food place. Loved the Whopper. Their fries and onion rings were my favorite. Now not only has the quality gone into the trash. I haven't been to a location that is clean, organized, stocked and managed well in nearly a decade," one Reddit user posted last fall.
"Was just talking about this today because I used to love BK, but the food quality has become garbage….Everything's ridiculously overpriced for such bad quality," replied another Redditor in the same thread.
McDonald's
There's no arguing the Golden Arches sit atop the fast-food revenue mountain, routinely bringing in tens of billions of dollars annually. Still, global brand recognition and millions of loyal customers doesn't necessarily translate to customer satisfaction. Mickey D's prices have jumped considerably in recent years, and patrons have been all too quick to point out the cost of a meal at McDonald's just doesn't match up with the quality of food being offered.
Right off the bat, McDonald's holds the dubious distinction of ranking dead last in the American Customer Satisfaction Index for fast-food restaurants in 2024. Earlier this year, the fast-food juggernaut's c-suite flat out admitted during an earnings call that McDonald's is losing its once iron grip on low-income consumers earning less than $45,000 annually. The burger chain has promised to prioritize lowering prices moving forward.
"We certainly know consumers are more wary—and weary—of pricing and we're going to continue to be consumer-led in our pricing decisions as we look forward to 2024," Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said earlier this year.
In the meantime, though, those promises haven't stopped a steady stream of customer complaints over the growing price-to-quality disparity at Mickey D's. "There's a nice steakhouse next door to the McDonalds in my town. I can eat a quality lunch there for the same price as McDonalds," commented one TikTok user.
"Been happening for a decade now. prices go up, quality goes down, and it takes them forever to make it. It's not even fast anymore. Much better to just go to a normal restaurant. you will get better food at a better price," added a Redditor on a recent thread titled "Can anyone else agree McDonalds has gone downhill and is getting more expensive every day."
Wendy's
Already one of the pricier fast-food burger options out there, Wendy's raised plenty of eyebrows earlier this year after reports surfaced the chain may begin experimenting with dynamic pricing. Typically seen across industries like air travel or ridesharing, dynamic pricing usually entails lowering or raising prices depending on various factors like demand or time of day. Public outcry among consumers was so frenzied the company had to release a statement putting the notion to bed.
"This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants," Wendy's proclaimed. "We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most."
Indeed, between sub-par fries and rude staff, a mere glance at customer complaints online quickly reveals why patrons would be so miffed at the prospect of higher prices. A post on Reddit earlier this year reads, "Everytime I go to Wendys I leave with a stomach ache," before going on to mention "soft and limp" fries, "bland" meat, and "horrid" burgers.
"Quality is fine, but I inconvenience the employees by ordering. At least that's how it feels, they look annoyed when they hand me my food," chimed in another Redditor. A second user added: "Yeah thats how I feel too. Like they're angry I even came by."
Five Guys
Five Guys has long found itself on the higher end of the fast-food burger spectrum, so it makes a certain degree of sense to expect customers to pay a bit more. Yet, even loyal Five Guys patrons can't help but balk at some of the prices being thrown around these days. At an average cost of over $20 per meal in 2024, according to MoneyGeek, Five Guys is flat-out unaffordable for many people.
A customer's receipt posted to X showing they paid over $24 for a bacon cheeseburger, regular soda, and small fries went viral a few months ago. Reading "Five Guys prices are out of control," the post collected 75,000 likes. One X user replied that "5 guys is not good food. Especially for those prices."
At price points like those, consumers expect a high quality burger, and to be fair, Five Guys does use pure beef with no fillers in its burgers. However, that doesn't mean Five Guys is particularly healthy fare. While the beef is a cut above other fast-food burgers, all the extra toppings and condiments pack a seriously caloric punch. For instance, the barbecue sauce alone contains 10 grams of sugar per serving.
"I don't begrudge paying for a quality burger, but their food is not up to the standard they charge," commented one Reddit user, while another added, "quality is ok…but nowhere near as good as it should be for that kinda dough."
Everyone is going to have a personal preference on just how much is too much to spend on a fast-food burger, but as prices continue to trend upward, more and more customers find themselves agreeing with sentiments like the one expressed by this Five Guys critic on Redditor: "$20 is absolutely ridiculous. You can literally go to any sit down restaurant and get a burger meal for that price. You get better service, a healthier meal, and you don't smell like grease."
Jack in the Box
Prominent West Coast burger chain Jack in the Box is known for its eclectic menu, featuring everything from burgers and fries to tacos and egg rolls. Unfortunately, the company's commendable branding efforts geared toward late-night munchies and bold flavor profiles haven't been enough lately to curtail customers from complaining about rising prices and stagnant food quality.
Founded way back in 1951, Jack in the Box has enjoyed considerable staying power over the decades, but a 25.8% increase in the average price of a meal at the chain between 2022 and 2024 ($10.93 to $13.75) has left many long-time patrons questioning if their money may be better spent elsewhere at those price points. On a related note, the burger chain fared poorly on the 2024 edition of the American Customer Satisfaction Index for fast-food restaurants; McDonald's was the only burger chain to rank lower.
Social media offers more than a few revealing clues explaining this apparent shift in customer sentiment. One recent post on Reddit titled "Can y'all still afford jack?" reads as follows: "I would order from Jack to save money and get a quick meal like everyday a year and a half ago. Now it feels not worth it."
One Redditor replied with similar thoughts, stating: "It's absolutely ridiculous. Quality of food has gone way down and they've raised prices well beyond everyone else." An additional comment calls Jack in Box's prices "insane" and the food "less than mediocre."
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