Why Chick-fil-A Is The Best Fast Food Chain | Top Spot

We asked you what the best drive-thru restaurant chains were and you guys voted for these

And the top spot goes to... Chick-fil-A. But why? Welcome to Top Spot, the show where we deep dive, yze, and explain what your top choices

are, could be, might have been, and sometimes definitely weren't. I'm your host Ross Everett

Chick-fil-A baby. That's right. Waffle fries, sweet tea, an array of dipping sauces and something else

I feel like I'm forgetting something there. Oh that's right. They're chicken

What is it about Chick-fil-A that makes it so popular? Well obviously for most people, it's the chicken

They're also ranked as the number one fried chicken restaurant chain in America, but that's

for another episode. I also have a hunch that's only because this is a list of real fried chicken restaurants

so Los Poyos Hermanos from Breaking Bad couldn't make the list. Damn, their chicken is good

Wait, no, no, no, not their chicken. Their meth. Their meth was good

Another big contributor are the waffle fries, which are number two on the list of the best

fast food french fries, falling only behind McDonald's in that category. But I saw a photo of some McDonald's fries that never aged and I don't trust a potato

that doesn't sprout. And then there are the milkshakes, where Chick-fil-A ranks at its lowest yet at number five overall

on the list. A little surprising that a company whose entire marketing campaign revolves around cows doesn't

rank very high in the dairy category. And to that I say, forget your milkshake

If you're eating at Chick-fil-A and you're not ordering the sweet tea, you are doing something wrong

Also another benefit of sweet tea is that your beverage is safe from Daniel Plainview

I drink your milkshake. And not to make this political, but this is about to get a little political because let's

face it, you can't talk about Chick-fil-A without talking about their massive stance

against eating cows. I'm just kidding. We're totally talking about the anti-gay marriage

reputation that they have A little background on where that comes from before we get into why this is interesting Chick founders also run a philanthropic organization called the Winshape Foundation Since 2003 Winshape has donated millions of dollars to explicitly

anti-gay groups like the Marriage and Family Foundation and Exodus International. But consumers

only began to take notice of Chick-fil-A's political orientation in 2012 when owner Dan

Kathy publicly railed against gay marriage as a rage against Jesus Christ and his values

which coincidentally is also the name of my Rage Against the Machine Christian cover band

We basically play rage songs, but censor the shit out of them. After a forceful backlash from LGBT

groups that year, Chick-fil-A issued a public apology and promised to stop funding anti-gay

groups for about five years, because in 2017, the company's philanthropic arm donated $1.8 million

to organizations with anti-LGBT stances, including the Salvation Army, the Paul Anderson Youth Home

and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. So, long story short, though the fast food company claims to

be neutral on the issue of gay rights, they still direct a significant portion of their profits to

groups that oppose them. So, clearly, liberal states like California and New York would absolutely

stand by their morals and banish Chick-fil-A to the deepest depths of a Hobby Lobby, right

It turns out Chick-fil-A is more popular in states that tend to vote blue than red

It's like a big old guilty secret that we're keeping. While Chick-fil-A may be highly popular in big blue states, its fans still have a specific political tilt

According to Ranker, those who love Chick-fil-A are more likely to love Ronald Reagan more than any other public figure

Any other public figure. That includes politicians, movie stars, and musicians. I mean, Ronald Reagan is at least two of those

but still, edging out both Robert Redford and Paul Newman? Impressive. Side note, Ronald Reagan edging out Robert Redford

and Paul Newman is the climax of the erotic novel I currently writing for middle women Chick fans are also more likely to actively dislike Jimmy Carter which suggests that the fans of this fast food brand tend to be both conservative and old enough

to have strong feelings about the 1980 presidential election. Or maybe they love bedtime for Bonzo

and hate peanut farmers. Should we tell them that fried food is often made in peanut oil

meaning that peanut farmer Jimmy Carter played more of a role in chicken nuggets

than Reagan's trickle-down economics? Nah, let him dream. Now I know what you're thinking

Sure, Reagan's foreign policy may have been strong, but Carter's put in more humanitarian man hours overall

But also, how old are these people that love Chick-fil-A? Great question, me pretending to be you

When looking at the results, it turns out every generation has a different preference

Millennials love Dairy Queen. Dairy Queen may be a 75-year-old brand, but it wasn't until the introduction

of full-service Grill and Chill restaurants in the early 2000s that the company became

a true competitor in the fast food world. That explains why millennials see it as more than just

a place to grab soft serve. From Grill and Chill to Netflix and Chill, maybe millennials just love things

that have to do with chilling. Gen X likes Sonic. No, no, no, not that Sonic

No, definitely not that Sonic. Definitely not that Sonic. Yeah, that Sonic

Lots of Gen Xers came of age during the swing revival of the 1990s when jazz dancing, pompadour

haircuts, and boogie-woogie all inexplicably came back into style. So it's not surprising that a 50s-style drive-in restaurant with roller skating car hops would

be at the top of their list. And boomers like Chick-fil-A. That can be at least partially explained with the common wisdom that older generations tend

to have more conservative politics, which means they're more likely to be unabashed

in their support for a company that shares those politics. Look, we're a divided nation and it's time to heal

And honestly, it looks like the only thing we can agree on is Chick And somehow I always knew it would come down to this Before we go we can end this episode without a true taste test to see if

Chick-fil-A really deserves the top spot here. So the top three drive-thru

restaurant chains as voted by you are Chick-fil-A, Wendy's, and In-N-Out Burger

Now normally we'd want to try a burger to find out a clear winner but since one

of our top three has no beef burgers and one of our top three has no chicken burgers, this becomes more difficult. And this is serious. We need to remain objective. The one

food option all three chains have in common, French fries. So now in front of me

I have three sets of French fries, one from each restaurant. And I, Ross Everett, am going to be

the ultimate judge as to whether you all correctly nailed the top spot by trying all three French

I'm gonna start with these Wendy's fries. Oh my god. It's like consistently gross

And there's so much grease. I don't know if you guys can see this, but it's like, it's making the thing translucent

All right, let's go. Let's go for one of these waffle fries. I'm gonna try it for a second

Let's try this. in and out. Mmm, this is a close one

I mean, this is a close one. Look, I'm giving it to Chick-fil-A

but by such a narrow margin, I just like the texture of a waffle fry

And I know, like, we didn't do the animal style fries and we didn't dip the Wendy's fries in a Frosty

which is honestly the only way that I think you should choke one of those down

I can't believe that's so high on the list. That's insane. Honestly, go to Ranker.com and vote these out

This is, look at this. This isn't food