Breaking burger news: Five Guys is America’s favorite burger
Two-time reigning champ In-N-Out loses title of America’s favorite burger to Five Guys. Let’s fight.
Each year, The Harris Poll releases an EquiTrend Study, which includes a burger category. The poll asks respondents to rate brands based on familiarity, quality and how likely they are to consider purchasing, according to Business Insider. For the past two years, the West Coast In-N-Out chain has dominated the field.
Not this year. This year, Five Guys is the “small regional player” that could, as Americans 15 years and older gave the chain to American burger supremacy. McDonald’s finished a semi-respectable seventh, carried mostly on the giant’s strength in the “familiarity” metric. And yet, Shake Shack, Wendy’s and Whataburger all finished ahead of the OG fast food burger.
In-N-Out settled in second place, but true believers are as salty as the generous heaping of fries (shoutout to the cajun fries too) at Five Guys.
Like almost everything, this is an extremely coastal debate. In-N-Out hails from California and has been inching its way inland and across the country – you can find locations in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas and also up in Oregon. They’re marketed with the official colors of fast food (red and yellow), but they also rock with palm trees.
Meanwhile, Five Guys was founded in Virginia, owning both East Coast and Southern origins. It operates in so many states it doesn’t even make sense to list them. (Also: Canada, France, Ireland, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE and the UK.) They’ve gone with unofficial colors of fast food (red and white) and your standard classic checker patterns. In lieu of palm trees, Five Guys is associated with the boxes of peanuts offered for in-line munching.
Really though, it’s all about the burger that Five Guys, officially, makes better.
Here’s the complete top ten:
"1. Five Guys2. In-N-Out3. Shake Shack4. Wendy’s5. Culver’s6. Whataburger7. McDonald’s8. Sonic America’s Drive-In9. Smashburger10. Steak ‘N Shake"
Twitter, of course, is already deep in the throes of a good old-fashioned food fight and relationships are being wrecked as you read this. Pick your burger* and join the battle.
*If you feel you are not well-versed enough in fast food burgers to take a stand, please use this important debate as an excuse to try any and/or all burgers on this list.