Comparison of Fast Food Burgers

1. Comparison of Fast Food Burgers Presented by: Candice Busby-Smith Adam McNatt Ona Harvey Chris Waits

2. Executive Summary The purpose of this report was to compare four burger restaurants to find out which one has the best burger based on the criteria we used. We compared four fast food burger restaurants (McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Whataburger, In-N-out). We compared these burger places using four different criteria (price, speed of service, health measured in calories, taste). In-N-Out had the best overall performance when all categories are considered. In-N-Out came in last in the taste category, but 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. Candice

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. Adam

4. 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. Adam

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. Chris

6. Comparison of the Burgers Fast Food Restaurants Criteria Price Speed of Service Health (Calories) Taste • In-N-Out Burger • McDonald’s • Wendy’s • Whataburger Chris

7. 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. Ona

8. Results 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-N-Out 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 Ona

9. Results 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. Ona

10. Results Taste 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. Ona

11. Results 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. Ona

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

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