Jersey Mike’s Subs surged straight to the top of the ACSI quick-service restaurant ranking with an 84 score, ending Chick-fil-A’s 11-year run. The shift comes as Jersey Mike’s expands rapidly after an $8 billion sale to Blackstone and brings in a new CEO in Ap
For 11 straight years, Chick-fil-A owned the top spot in the American Customer Satisfaction Index quick-service ranking. This year, that streak ended—on the kind of score sheet where a single point can feel like a turning point.
Jersey Mike’s Subs debuted on the ACSI and landed at number one among quick-service restaurants, scoring 84 out of 100. Chick-fil-A finished just behind at 83.
The ranking is based on how Americans say they felt about recent experiences. It’s not a popularity contest. Jersey Mike’s earned its place in 2026 because it qualified under ACSI rules tied to market share. The chain had been growing quickly over the past year—enough that it finally “made the cut” after years of being outside the list.
That growth has been anything but slow on the business side. Jersey Mike’s has been around since 1956. but the company’s ACSI entry follows a major corporate moment: it initiated an $8 billion sale to private equity firm Blackstone. In April of 2025. Jersey Mike’s named Charlie Morrison its new CEO—only the second CEO in the company’s history. During 2025, the chain added 238 new locations and reached $4.2 billion in systemwide sales.
ACSI rankings don’t come from the loudest voices in a room. They come from surveys of random Americans, collected through emails about recent experiences with the largest companies across industries. The 2026 ACSI Restaurant and Food Delivery Study, which includes the quick-service restaurant ranking, is based on 16,464 of those surveys.
Underneath the headline numbers, the study’s findings point to a food market where expectations are moving faster than the industry’s scoreboard.
While Jersey Mike’s topped the quick-service category, Chick-fil-A still leads satisfaction among quick-service chicken restaurants. In other quick-service categories. Papa Johns scored 80 for pizza. Starbucks scored 79 for coffee and bakeries. and Burger King and Culver’s tied for first in the burger category with 78 points each.
The ACSI study doesn’t stop at quick-service. In full-service restaurants. there’s a three-way tie for the number-one spot between LongHorn Steakhouse. Texas Roadhouse. and “all others. ” a catch-all group for restaurants that don’t have enough market share for an individual ACSI score. Each of those earned a score of 82.
In food delivery, only three brands earned spots: Uber Eats, Grubhub, and DoorDash, in that order. Even there, the margin is tight—within a two-point range. Uber Eats scored 76, barely ahead of Grubhub’s 75, with DoorDash at 74.
Forrest Morgeson, an associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and the director of research emeritus at the ACSI, said in a press release that while there’s little change in the restaurant industry’s overall scores year over year, “there’s real movement underneath.”
He said new brands are entering the rankings and immediately competing at the top. “which tells you something about where consumer expectations are headed.” Morgeson added that price still matters. but “it’s no longer enough on its own.” According to him. consistency across the full experience is separating leaders now. and that’s showing up in the data. The challenge ahead. he said. is sustaining those results as costs rise and competition intensifies from outside the traditional restaurant space.
The shift from Chick-fil-A’s long run to Jersey Mike’s new top finish is a reminder that the satisfaction race doesn’t stand still—especially when a fast-growing operator pairs expansion with an internal leadership change and arrives on the ACSI stage at full speed.
The full 2026 ACSI Restaurant and Food Delivery Study is available here.
ACSI Jersey Mike’s Chick-fil-A customer satisfaction fast food quick-service restaurants Blackstone Charlie Morrison restaurant industry food delivery Uber Eats Grubhub DoorDash market share
84? Chick-fil-A really fell off I guess.
So does this mean Jersey Mike’s is better or just more popular right now? ACSI always sounds like some survey nobody asked me about lol. Either way I’m not switching teams based on a number.
Wait I thought Chick-fil-A owned the top spot for like 11 years… how did it drop by one point?? That’s literally nothing. Also the article says Jersey Mike’s “made the cut” cause of market share, so like it’s not even real satisfaction?? Unless everyone in the email surveys is just hungry for subs.
ACSI is based on Americans feeling stuff from emails, so it’s kinda random. But also Jersey Mike’s has like 238 new locations and sold for $8 billion to Blackstone, so maybe they’re just opening where people already love it. Charlie Morrison being CEO doesn’t sound like it’s been long enough to change the sandwiches that much though. Chick-fil-A is still the default for me, I don’t care what score they got.