The new recipe for QSR success

For today’s quick service restaurant (QSR) brands, market dynamics are evolving fast: Quarter Pounders cost twelve dollars while branded avatars are popping up in Fortnite; nostalgia is in, but so is AI; a milkshake goes viral for committing murders on the internet and pizzas get ordered through your Xbox. It’s a world of rising costs, intensifying competition, and elevated customer expectations, where formats are multiplying, culture is whizzing by, and innovation is reshaping how we order, what we eat, and where we eat it.

In this new environment, what’s the best role for brand and experience? Below, we explore today’s core challenges, which ultimately lead to six guiding principles to help QSR leaders meet the moment and create emotional connections that endure. 

Ten years ago, a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder Meal cost $5.39. Today, it costs $11.99. Margins are under pressure from every angle—rising real estate costs, supply chain limitations, a “dramatic shift in labor economics”—which means higher costs and less happy customers. From Popeye’s to Panera, industry prices have increased on average by 60% since 2014, and 3 in 4 consumers now consider fast food a “luxury” purchase. 

All this means the category is no longer a no-brainer, and restaurants have to attract customers with something beyond the pull of low prices. As Olivia Ross, the Director of Growth & Innovation at El Pollo Loco, puts it, “Value isn’t about dollars and discounts. It’s about how you feel. Can you save me time? Can I get exclusive access to something I can’t get anywhere else that makes me feel special? Feel seen?”  
 
Indeed, 74% of customers say loyalty depends on feeling understood by the brand. But data also says loyalty is getting harder and harder to earn.

It’s not enough to sell a sandwich; brands have to have a fan-base. And with more choices and tighter wallets, consumers expect an experience that’s worth coming back to every time. Official loyalty programs are trying their best, adding value through subscriptions, strategic partnerships, and gamified experiences. 

The vast majority of consumers (80%) do say they buy more frequently when actively engaging with a loyalty or rewards program. A challenge today, though, is how to foster that loyalty and duplicate that experience across so many different channels.

QSRs aren’t just restaurants anymore, they’re tech companies, too. Digital ordering now makes up over 75% of QSR transactions at major chains, and 63% of Gen Z regularly use food delivery apps. Customers move fluidly across channels and expect a brand experience that moves with them. 

And if a brand falls short? Customers have never been less forgiving. Compared to older generations, Gen Z and millennials are twice as likely to switch brands after a poor experience. Why wouldn’t they? When a better brand is just a tap away.  

As costs rise, competition intensifies, and customer expectations evolve, brands are certainly not standing still. But too often, fresh ideas flop (McDonald’s CosMc’s, Wendy’s ghost kitchens), conflicting innovations confuse customers (can footlong Oreos live in the same universe as Subway’s “Eat Fresh Refresh”?), and new strategies stray too far from beloved legacies.

In this ever-changing, always-challenging landscape, how can QSR brands meet today’s tests while setting themselves up for enduring relevance?

Here are six principles to help guide solutions.  

Loyalty should be something customers experience, not just another thing to do or track. Traditional rewards programs often rely on points and discounts, but today’s customers expect more. Leading brands are designing loyalty features that deliver real utility: faster service, exclusive access, and everyday perks that are worth showing up for.  
 
Chick-fil-A loyalty members can skip the line and order straight to their table, a simple app innovation that elevates the dine-in experience and has been a hit on Reddit with socially-anxious orderers.  
 
How can your loyalty program deliver value beyond discounts?  

Brands don’t just live in stores or online, they live in culture. The most magnetic brands spark a conversation, and in a world where food trends move at the speed of TikTok, craveability is no longer just about flavor, it’s about cultural relevance. Leading QSR brands are embracing this shift by showing up in moments that matter: remixing nostalgic favorites, co-creating with buzz-worthy creators, and leaning into storytelling that resonates right now.  
 
Wendy, in particular, has come a long way. Built through years of trend-savvy moves that keep her surprising customers where culture lives, from Fortnite to TikTok to DJ’ing in-store raves in India, Wendy’s “Wendy” has helped move the brand from culture-spectator to culture-maker. 

Where can your brand lean into the cultural conversation and earn lasting attention?

In the push for progress, some QSRs mistakenly strip away the stuff that makes them memorable, neutralizing personality in the name of modernization. But familiarity can be a strategic asset. In fact, 71% of U.S. customers feel fast food brings back fond memories of their childhood. Brands don’t need to erase their past to stay relevant—just rediscover what made them iconic. 
 
Burger King and Pizza Hut are both tapping into nostalgia through refreshed logos, retro packaging, and reimagined spaces that honor their roots while engaging a new generation. 

How can you deploy design to create connection, build distinction, and elevate brand perceptions?

As the customer journey grows more fragmented, delivering a cohesive brand experience is both more difficult and more important. From third-party apps to drive-thru lanes, customers encounter QSR brands in dozens of places, many outside the company’s direct control.  
 
The brands that win treat every touchpoint as a strategic expression of who they are. Shake Shack quietly incorporates small touches, like serving tiny forks with takeout fries and adding branded chips instead of fries to its airline meals to keep up the crispy quality, ensuring the brand feels clear, consistent, and unmistakably “Shake Shack” wherever it shows up.  
 
While flexing to the unique needs of different channels and formats, how can you make sure every touchpoint delivers on your brand promise?

From automation and remodels to predictive ordering and delivery tech, QSR brands are pouring resources into innovation. But tech alone doesn’t create advantage—experience does. In fact, when innovation is driven by thoughtful experience design, it often disappears into the background. What customers remember isn’t a specific technology, it’s how smooth, smart, and satisfying everything felt. 
 
Subway Fresh 2.0 is more than a standard remodel. Brand leaders rethought every detail, using smart tech and intentional design to make the experience feel better, not just look newer, streamlining the order process for both customers and staff. 

How can you take advantage of better tools to create better moments? 

Today’s QSR brands need to go beyond personalized offers and product suggestions to foster moments of real connection. Whether it’s remembering a regular’s order, showing up with a thoughtful gesture, or designing service rituals that feel human, the strongest brands think beyond transactions to build relationships.  
 
Starbucks is returning to the power of personal touch, moving away from “overly transactional” pick-up-only locations and staking a turnaround on returning the brand to its original coffeehouse intimacy, bringing back handwritten notes and amping up the personalization of  app suggestions based on order history, a customer’s usual coffee time, and their best bet for those bonus stars.  
 
When every interaction feels considered and personal, loyalty becomes emotional and far more durable. How can you balance technological intelligence and human touch to deliver moments of real connection?  

Loyalty is harder to earn, prices are harder to justify, and brand experiences are harder to control. 

But it’s also an exciting time. There are new channels to reach customers, new opportunities to improve their experience, and new ways to get to know them and develop a truly personalized relationship.  
 
In this new world, brand and experience can be the assets that enable companies to keep up with culture, innovate intentionally, deploy technology with a human touch—and serve up what customers truly crave.