- Fast-food chains have a bad reputation when it comes to keeping restaurants clean.
- Business Insider asked more than 3,000 people who read our fast-food coverage which chains have the cleanest locations.
- Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, and Starbucks topped the list.
- Read on to see which eight chains customers say have the cleanest restaurants in America.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
No one wants to visit a fast-food chain with a grubby dining room and unknown germs lurking in the kitchen.
People across America are skeptical of many fast-food chains’ abilities to meet basic standards of cleanliness. So, Business Insider asked more than 3,000 people who read our fast-food coverage which chains they believe have the cleanest restaurants.
To avoid penalizing smaller regional chains, we crunched the numbers to create a score based on the percentage of people who said they visited a chain in the last six months and who said the brand had the cleanest restaurants. While the data collection wasn’t super scientific, it quickly revealed which fast-food chains customers believe to be the cleanest.
Read more: The 7 fast-food chains with the best service in America, according to customers
Few customers were willing to vouch for most fast-food giants' cleanliness. In the case of most chains - including McDonald's, Burger King, and Subway - fewer than 10% of respondents said that they believed the brand had the cleanest restaurants in the industry.
However, a handful of chains stood out. Here are the eight fast-food chains with the cleanest restaurants in the industry, according to customers.
8. Five Guys
10% of people who had visited Five Guys in the last six months said the brand had the cleanest restaurants.
7. Whataburger
11% of people who had visited Whataburger in the last six months said the brand had the cleanest restaurants.
6. Chipotle
15% of people who had visited Chipotle in the last six months said the brand had the cleanest restaurants.
5. Culver's
20% of people who had visited Five Guys in the last six months said the brand had the cleanest restaurants.
4. Panera Bread
21% of people who had visited Panera in the last six months said the brand had the cleanest restaurants.
3. Starbucks
27% of people who had visited Starbucks in the last six months said the brand had the cleanest restaurants.
2. In-N-Out
30% of people who had visited In-N-Out in the last six months said the brand had the cleanest restaurants.
1. Chick-fil-A
55% of people who had visited Chick-fil-A in the last six months said the brand had the cleanest restaurants.