Chick-fil-A hired a DEI vice president, funded Drag Queen Story Hours, and lost its most loyal customers.
Now a New Jersey sub shop just took their crown.
A national customer satisfaction study just ranked this sub shot the best in fast food – and the reason why should make Chick-fil-A's executives very uncomfortable.
The Numbers That Should Make Chick-fil-A Blush
The 2026 American Customer Satisfaction Index just released its annual restaurant rankings – and for the first time in 11 years, Chick-fil-A is not at the top.
Jersey Mike's debuted at No. 1 with a score of 84 out of 100.
Chick-fil-A scored an 83.
One point.
https://twitter.com/FOXNashville/status/2067200655035359466?s=20
That's the gap between America's new favorite fast food chain and the chain that spent over a decade at the top while quietly stabbing its most loyal customers in the back.
The ACSI study drew on more than 16,000 completed customer surveys from April 2025 through March 2026.
The survey ranked Jimmy John's and Panda Express tied at 81, while McDonald's and Dairy Queen sat dead last at 72.
A 17-Year-Old Kid From New Jersey Built This
The story of how Jersey Mike's got here is exactly the kind of American success story the media never covers.
In 1975, a 17-year-old kid named Peter Cancro knocked on his high school football coach's door and asked for a loan to buy the sub shop where he'd been working since age 14.
The coach – also a banker – said yes.
Cancro bought Mike's Subs in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and spent the next 50 years building it into one of the most successful franchise operations in American history.
He nearly lost everything in 1991 – let go of his entire corporate staff, including his own brother, rather than watch the whole company go under.
He kept every dime in the business and grew anyway.
Today Jersey Mike's has more than 4,000 locations, hit $4.2 billion in sales last year, and added 238 net new locations in 2025 alone.
The ACSI credited the chain with sustaining high customer satisfaction while rapidly expanding – citing "rapid unit growth, strong customer demand, and a model designed around throughput and off-premise convenience."
https://twitter.com/FoxNewsLife/status/2067067368124424263?s=20
Only 1% of applicants are approved to open a Jersey Mike's franchise.
That's not a coincidence – that's the whole model.
What Chick-fil-A Chose Instead
Chick-fil-A's conservative customers did everything right.
They showed up in 2012 when the left tried to destroy the chain over Dan Cathy's support for traditional marriage.
Mike Huckabee organized Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day – one of the most visible acts of conservative consumer solidarity in modern American history.
They kept coming back every single time the left tried a new boycott.
They turned Chick-fil-A into one of the most profitable fast food chains per location in the country.
And then Chick-fil-A hired a Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Then a Utah franchise posted a congratulations message for a same-sex wedding on the company's official social media – and corporate defended it.
Then it came out that the Chick-fil-A Foundation had funneled at least $230,000 to Covenant House – an organization that hosts Drag Queen Story Hours.
When a conservative customer wrote to corporate headquarters demanding answers, Chick-fil-A responded that the company is "committed to being Better at Together by embedding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in everything we do."
https://twitter.com/ABCNews4/status/2067276244811399506?s=20
Mike Huckabee said supporting Chick-fil-A was one of the "biggest regrets of his life."
That's where 11 years of loyalty got conservatives.
The Market Has a Long Memory
Chick-fil-A was handed the most loyal customer base in fast food – people who ate there on principle, not just because the chicken sandwich was good.
They chased corporate approval from people who will never eat there anyway, and watched their satisfaction score slip just enough for a New Jersey sub shop to walk right past them.
Jersey Mike's didn't do anything revolutionary.
They made good food, treated franchisees well, said yes to growth only when they could maintain quality, and didn't spend a dime trying to prove anything to anyone.
That's the whole formula.
Peter Cancro built his company the same way he started it – grinding through the hard years, never selling out, and letting the product speak for itself.
The market just noticed.
Sources:
- "Jersey Mike's Debuts as Top-Rated Quick-Service Restaurant, Ending Chick-fil-A's 11-Year Reign, ACSI Data Shows," Business Wire, June 16, 2026.
- Staff, "Jersey Mike's dethrones Chick-fil-A in new customer satisfaction ranking," Fox News, June 16, 2026.
- Staff, "Jersey Mike's dethrones Chick-fil-A as top fast-food chain," The Washington Times, June 16, 2026.
- Suzanne Bowdey, "Chick-Fil-A Waffles on Wokeness with Same-Sex Marriage Post and DEI Focus," Washington Stand, December 4, 2025.
- Staff, "After Nearly Going Bankrupt, How Franchise Jersey Mike's Fought Back and Won," Entrepreneur, 2018.
