Order up! Australia’s favourite fast-food chains revealed

We’re sure most of you have fond memories of taking your children or grandchildren to McDonald’s or Hungry Jack’s (aka Burger King) on the weekends. While it’s common knowledge these fast food outlets aren’t the healthiest option available, these occasional treats are worth if for the smiles they bring to a child’s face.

Market research company Roy Morgan recently crunched the numbers and ranked Australia’s top 10 fast-food chains.

Almost 16 million Australians Australians aged 14 years and older ate takeaway from fast-food outlets in an average month during 2020.

Perhaps unsurprising, old favourite Macca’s (McDonald’s) has taken out the top spot with around 8.1 million customers tucking into a meal there in 2020.

KFC was a clear second with 6.8 million customers, while Hungry Jack’s  had 4.2 million customers.

Millennials (those born between 1976 and 1990, aged between 30-45 years) are the biggest consumer of the top three fast food outlets, however nearly 40 per cent of McDonald’s customers were aged 46 years or older and a total of 39.4 per cent of the customers for KFC and Hungry Jack’s were pre-Baby Boomers, Baby Boomers and Gen X.

Rounding out the top five fast food outlets was Domino’s Pizza (4.13 million) and Subway (3.23 million).

Roy Morgan found that one in five Australians ate takeaway food at least 10 times a month, with the local fish and chip shop, pizzeria or convenience store frequented regularly by hungry consumers.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said the increase in fast food was no doubt boosted by the impact of Covid-19. This was reflected in the increased use of food-ordering services such as Uber Eats, Menulog, HelloFresh, Deliveroo and DoorDash.

Although these apps are ‘popular’ Levine said “they are not the whole story” as customer growth at leading fast food outlets such as McDonald’s, KFC, Hungry Jack’s and Domino’s Pizza has been consistent over the last few years.

With coronavirus forcing us to spend a considerable amount of time at home during nationwide lockdowns last year, this latest data shows how fast food outlets were one of the main beneficiaries.

“The latest Roy Morgan data shows over three-quarters of Australians aged 14-plus, 15.9 million, ate take away food from fast food outlets in an average four weeks during 2020, up from 13.3 million (63.7 per cent) in 2019 before anyone had heard of Covid-19,” Levine said.

“This represents significant growth on a year earlier, but the trend of increasing patronage at fast food outlets has been consistent over the last few years.”