Really? ‘Least Trusted’ Restaurant Brands Have 74 Locations In Michigan

When it comes to eating out, who do you trust? A recent survey revealed that there are two restaurant brands that instill the least amount of trust from diners, and these two brands have a total of 74 Michigan locations.

And let me go on record right now to say that I am not in agreement with the people who participated in this survey!

Michigan Has Thousands of Restaurant Choices

Of course with new restaurants popping up and others closing almost every day, finding the exact number of eateries in Michigan is like chasing a moving target. As of March of 2024, the site Smartscrapers estimats that there are just over 10,000 places to grab a quick bite or sit down for an elegant meal in the Mitten.

Trustworthy Brands in the United States

The site Chain Store Age crunched the numbers and came up with the most-trusted and least-trusted restaurant brands in America. CSA provides brand analysis and retail news for industry executives throughout the US.

When considering a brand's trustworthiness, respondents said the top qualities that make a brand trustworthy are outlets that deliver what they promise, ask for honest feedback, and exhibit price transparency.

Among chain restaurants across the US, Pizza Hut gets the nod for being the most trustworthy with 40% of respondents saying the trust the Hut. Following closely behind are KFC (39%) and McDonald's (37%).

Least Trusted Restaurant Brands

On the other hand, two popular fast-food chains posted very low scores on the trustworthiness scale, each with 18% saying they trust the brand.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, which has 58 locations in Michigan, has some ground to cover in order to earn customer trust.

Tied with Chipotle is Sonic Drive-Thru, each with a score of just 18%. There are 16 Sonic locations in Michigan.

Chipotle fared especially poorly with Baby Boomers, coming in as that age group's least-trusted brand.