Top restaurant brands of 2021 | Chatmeter’s local brand report

There are 24.9 million searches for “food near me” in the United States each month.  Are restaurant brands doing everything they can to be visible online?

In Chatmeter’s latest Local Brand Report: Top Restaurant Brands of 2021, Chatmeter analyzed which restaurant brands are doing everything they can to maintain strong online visibility and reputation across all of their locations.

In the independent study conducted by Chatmeter, 75 brands split into groups of small (under 50 locations), mid-size (under 500 locations), and large (over 500 locations) location counts were examined to determine local brand visibility and online reputation strength. 10 brands from each category were identified as leaders and represent the brands going above and beyond to provide customers with an exceptional online and offline experience.

Key Findings:

• The average Local Brand Visibility (LBV) score for the restaurant industry as a whole is 62.
• The best performing LBV category was the listings category at 81. A score over 70 is reflective of an LBV leader.
• The percent of positive customer sentiment found in reviews increased by nearly 10% as the size of the brand decreased: large 65.8% positive, mid-size 74.7% positive, and small 83.1% positive.

In addition to identifying the top 10 brands in Local Brand Visibility and Online Reputation, Chatmeter also took a look at the sentiment in customer reviews to analyze customer attitudes towards restaurant brands.

By leveraging Chatmeter’s Analytics and Pulse tool, findings showed that customer sentiment towards new or expanded customer experiences during the pandemic varied by topic. Customer sentiment was higher than average towards topics like “outdoor seating” and “curbside pickup”, unlike “delivery driver” or “phone” where sentiment leaned negative.

Findings like this highlight the importance of review management for restaurant brands. Monitoring and analyzing customer reviews can lead to unbiased and actionable insights for brands. Customers are telling brands what they want, are brands listening?

To discover all the insights from the report and see the Top 10 lists, click the button below to download the report.