Comparison of Fast Food Burgers A Recommendation

Prepared for TECM 2700.044 Professor Ng December 2013

Contents

iii

Contents Contents ..........................................................................................................................................iii Illustrations ......................................................................................................................................v Figures ..........................................................................................................................................v Tables ...........................................................................................................................................v Executive Summary......................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3 Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Methods .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Comparison of the Burgers ......................................................................................................... 5 Results ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Price ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Speed of Service .......................................................................................................................... 6 Health .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Taste ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 11 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................ 11 Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 11 References .................................................................................................................................... 13

Illustrations

v

Illustrations Figures Figure 1. Store front of McDonald’s…………………………………………………………………………………………….i Figure 2. Store front of Wendy’s…………………………………………………………………………………………………i Figure 3. Store front of Whataburger……………………………………………………….…………………………………i Figure 4. Store front of In-N-Out…...................................................................................................i

Tables Table I. Price of burgers……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..5 Table II. Speed of service……………………………………………………………………………………………………………6 Table III. Health of burgers…………………………………………………………………………………………………………6 Table IV. Taste of burgers…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7 Table V. Conclusion of results……………………..……………………………………………………………………………..9 Table VI. Survey used to conduct experiment………………………………………………………………………….11

Executive Summary

1

Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to compare these four burger restaurants and found out which one has the best burger based on the criteria we used. In this report we compared four fast food burger restaurants, we compared these burger places using four different criteria. The four fast food restaurants we used our In-N-Out burger, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Whataburger. The four criteria we used to compare them are price, speed of service, health (calories), and taste. We picked these four burger restaurants, because we found it fair to compare since they’re all fast food and people tend to like them the best. Why we compared them the way we did is so people were getting the most bang for the buck while keeping it as healthy as possible. Despite coming in last in the taste category, In-N-Out had the best overall performance when all categories are considered. It was first in price and health and second in speed of service. We recommend In-N-Out for the burger that performed the best in our test criteria.

Introduction and Overview

3

Introduction In this report we compared four fast food burger restaurants, we compared these burger places using four different criteria. The four fast food restaurants we used our In-N-Out burger, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Whataburger. The four criteria we used to compare them are price, speed of service, health (calories), and taste. The purpose of this report is to compare these four burger restaurants and found out which one has the best burger based on the criteria we used. We choose to do this over burgers, because if someone wanted to get a good burger for a good price and wanted to get it pretty quickly, they would know exactly where to go.

Overview We picked these four burger restaurants, because we found it fair to compare since they’re all fast food and people tend to like them the best. Why we compared them the way we did is so people were getting the most bang for the buck while keeping it as healthy as possible.

Methods and Results

5

Methods The survey was given to family and friends during Thanksgiving break. 140 people took the survey and it was based only on taste. They were asked to just pick their favorite. We ordered burgers that were a comparable product from each place and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Each person tasted a piece of each of the four burgers and they were asked to pick their favorite. The speed of service was done by ordering on Saturday at 6:00 pm. One of us went to McDonalds and another went to Wendy's the first Saturday. The second Saturday one of us went to Whataburger and the other went to In-N-Out at 6:00 pm again. We used a stopwatch on our cell phones to time them from when we completed our orders to when the food was handed to us. Calorie information was collected from the restaurants’ websites. Pricing was determined when we ordered the food.

Comparison of the Burgers We compared burgers from the following four fast food restaurants: o In-N-Out Burger o McDonald’s o Wendy’s o Whataburger The burgers were compared using the following criteria: o o o o

Price Speed of Service Health (Calories) Taste

Results Price In-N-Out Burger had the lowest price of $1.65 for their cheeseburger. Whataburger came in second at $2.94 for their basic Whataburger. Wendy’s and McDonald’s tied for the highest price at $3.69 for the 1/4 lb. single with cheese and the QuarterPounder with cheese, respectively.

Price 4

3 2

Price

1 0 In-N-Out

McDonald's

Wendy's

Whataburger

6

Comparison of Fast Food Burgers

Speed of Service We timed the four restaurants from the time we finished giving our order at the drive-thru to when we received our food. McDonald’s had the quickest time of 1 minute, 37 seconds. In-NOut came in second with a time of 2 minutes. Wendy’s was third at 3 minutes, 3 seconds. Whataburger was fourth with a time of 3 minutes, 58 seconds

Speed of Service 4:19 3:50 3:21 2:52 2:24 Speed of Service

1:55 1:26 0:57 0:28 0:00 In-N-Out

McDonald's

Wendy's

Whataburger

Health When comparing health, we used calories as the basis for our comparison. The calorie information was obtained from the respective restaurant’s website. The option with the fewest calories was In-N-Out at 480. Second was McDonald’s at 520 calories. Wendy’s had 580 calories. And Whataburger had the highest calorie count at 640.

Calories 700 600 500 400

Calories

300 200 100 0 In-N-Out

McDonald's

Wendy's

Whataburger

Methods and Results

7

Taste

Best Tasting 16%

In-N-Out

38% 18%

McDonald's Wendy's Whataburger

28%

To compare taste, we surveyed 140 people and asked them to pick which option was their favorite based on taste alone. Whataburger was first with 53 votes. Wendy’s came in second with 39 votes. McDonald’s was third with 26 votes and In-N-Out came in last with 22 votes.

Conclusion and Recommendations

9

Conclusion Everyone has different aspects that are important to them when choosing what to eat. Whether it is taste, price, speed or health, people will place varying values on each criteria. In-N-Out Burger had the best price, was second in speed, and had the lowest calorie count. However, it came in last for taste. McDonald’s was tied for the highest price, was first in speed, had the second lowest calorie count and came in third for taste. Wendy’s was tied for the highest price, was third in speed, had the second highest calorie count and was second in taste. Whataburger was third in price, was last in speed, and had the highest calorie count. But it came in first for taste.

Price In-N-Out McDonald’s Wendy’s Whataburger

$1.65 $3.69 $3.69 $2.94

Speed of Service 2:00 1:37 3:03 3:58

Health (Calories) 480 520 580 640

Taste (Votes) 22 26 39 53

Recommendations Despite coming in last in the taste category, In-N-Out had the best overall performance when all categories are considered. It was first in price and health and second in speed of service. We recommend In-N-Out for the burger that performed the best in our test criteria.

Appendix

11

Appendix This is the survey that was used in the taste test. Each participant was to choose their favorite tasting burger. #1 was In-N-Out, #2 was McDonald’s, #3 was Wendy’s, and #4 was Whataburger.

PLEASE CHECK THE BOX FOR THE BURGER THAT YOU BELIEVE TASTES THE BEST. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! Option #1 (In-N-Out) Option #2 (McDonald’s) Option #3 (Wendy’s) Option #4 (Whataburger)

References

13

References In-N-Out Burger Nutritional Facts. (n.d.). http://www.in-n-out.com/pdf/nutrition_2010.pdf McDonald’s USA Nutrition Facts for Popular Menu Items. (2013, November). http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf Nutrition Information. (2013, December). http://www.wendys.com/redesign/wendys/pdf/en_US_nutrition.pdf Whataburger Nutrition. (n.d.). https://whataburger.com/Food/Nutrition