Fast Food Prestige Rankings
As the high school class of ’23 prepares to apply to highly selective student organizations such as “The Cornell Hedge Fund” and IU Kelly’s elite “Investment Banking Workshop”, I think it’s only right to rank these high school jobs so prospects know which to highlight on their resume and which to avoid like the plague.
Tier 1A (the pinnacle of fast-food prestige) Starbucks, Chick-fil-A
Tier 1B (respected name brands with strong exits) Chipotle, Panera Bread, In-n-Out Burger
Tier 2 (strong names, above shops will take you as a lateral) Panda Express, Jimmy John’s, Five Guys
Tier 3 (try hard to lateral to a better shop) Raising Cane’s, Domino’s, Dunkin, Wendy’s, Jersey Mike’s
Tier 4 (leave off the resume) Subway, Popeye’s, Little Caesar’s, McDonald’s, KFC
Tier 5 (worse than NW Mutual) Taco Bell, Whataburger, Burger King, Arby’s
Move five guys up to 1B
Sorry about the Whata rejection
Whataburger would be Tier 2 if their speed wasn't absolute dogshit. I'd rather be #20 in line at a Chipotle or CFA than #3 at a Whataburger.
Clearly work at Whata….
Arby's Boys guy would disagree.
We have the meats!
lmao
Taco Bell is tier 2 nothing hits better than being black out drunk and having a steak quesadilla
Taco Bell’s food is tier 3, tier 2 if you’ve had several negronis, but is an auto ding on a resume for any prestigious undergraduate investment management society
Taco Bell is Tier 3 at least
Put shake shack as 1. Anyone who ranks Chik fil a as one is not cultured.
shake shack is dog
Starbucks gives you a 50% chance of being seen as a blue-haired they/them creature. Not prestigious.
EDI hire
Let's just start calling DEI/EDI/whatever, let's call it DIE
Del
Starbucks asks for tips at the drive-through…
Chipotle is 1A especially since its the only fast food that can give you actual good macros for gainz
Five guys is so overrated. For there prices you might as well go to Applebees
Starbucks? No.
The joy a Big Mac can bring you is unparalleled
Where does Dos Toros & Shake Shack fall on this list? Has to be 1A or 1B as an elite boutique institution. Could be controversial, but McDonalds has to move up the list – historic heritage and brand name with first mover advantage, despite some degradation in past years, recent revamp and rollout of new buns could be a massive opportunity.
This guy gets it
Did Popeyes dirty
Congrats on panda express
Canes needs to be bumped to 1B or 2. Congrats on Panera
Jimmy John’s ahead of Jersey Mikes? Absolutely criminal.
Thoughts on boutique fast food shops for placing into prestigious undergraduate investment clubs?
Strong groups at local taco stands and coffee shops place well, otherwise pretty shit
Starbucks food is absolute bottom tier dogshit and Popeyes is tier 1A quality.
For a QSR that treats its customers worse than Guantanamo Bay advanced interrogators treat detainees, there is a reason that establishment is still in business.
Fixed it for you…
Tier 1A (the pinnacle of fast-food prestige)Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, ChipotleTier
1B (respected name brands with strong exits)Panera Bread, In-n-Out Burger
Tier 2 (strong names, above shops will take you as a lateral)Wendy's, Jimmy John's, Five Guys, Taco Bell, Subway, Pret a Manger, Shake Shack
Tier 3 (try hard to lateral to a better shop)Domino's, Dunkin, Jersey Mike's, Papa John's , Sonic, Panda Express, Culver's, Wingstop, Zaxby's, Firehouse
Tier 4 (leave off the resume)Popeye's, Little Caesar's, McDonald's, KFC, Raising Cane's, Pizza Hut, Whataburger, Hardee's/Carls Jr, Del Taco, Coffee Bean
Tier 5 (worse than NW Mutual)Jack in the Box, Burger King, Arby's, Dairy Queen, White Castle
congrats on wendy’s
Firehouse has the best subs. Also founded by firefighters
Pret is like HSBC where it's tier 1 in London but no one cares in the US
Popeyes at tier 4 is disgusting and I am offended.
How is Five Guys not the most prestigious when it’s like $25 per person? Eating there is a flex relative to other fast food
O'tacos has the scent of European aristocracy
Bro clearly got rejected from NW mutual
was it fun selling life insurance to your friends and family?
Lmao NW mutual only gives out offers to candidates who literally give them 100 contacts from their phone in the interview for leads, then ask you to make an intro so it's not a cold lead.
Chipotle deserves to be 1A and switched with Starbucks. Just an absolute reliable staple spot.
SBUX is no Tier 1
Have you eaten at a Harvey's or Boston Pizza?
Whataburger to Tier 3
Little Caesar’s to bottom Tier
TACO BELL AT LAST TIER? They have very high value, lots of exposure at a great price!
great value because you're eating delicious horse meat
Ngl my Chick Fil A experience was asked about during my internship interviews, so there’s something to this list. They didn’t ask about my Dairy Queen experience lol.
Shake Shack tier S, nothing else deserve to stay in its tier
In-N-Out Burger needs to be top tier. They’re small, elite, and confined to the west coast. They’re like Qatalyst of the fast food world.
Im with you, except as a former associate their uniforms are goofy af and not prestigious. Chick fil a uniforms are so sleek it bumps them to 1A, in n out is otherwise more prestigious.
Cane’s is at least tier 2 come on
Eh I went for the first time since college around a month ago. Chicken tenders were small and dry. Fries were not fresh. Bread was a banger just as I remembered.
Sweet tea absolutely slapped tho.
Maybe they had a bad day, but it was nothing like I remember it being back in college.
Eh I went for the first time since college around a month ago. Chicken tenders were small and dry. Fries were not fresh. Bread was a banger just as I remembered.
Sweet tea absolutely slapped tho.
Maybe they had a bad day, but it was nothing like I remember it being back in college.
canes fries are F tier
Taco bell clears the entire list. L
Congrats on Chick Fil A
Where is Sweetgreen and Naya, I thought this was WSO, not Main Street Shit hole. MSSh
Sweetgreen is a tech company and we’re talking about fast food here
In-N-Out is god tier.
Congratulations on Panda Express
7-11
Royal Farms
Wawa and Sheetz are magnets/money makers, too.
May not be prestige, yet.
7-11 Coffee is really good and right price...not kidding.
I also like Royal Farms anything, up and coming. Think middle class family magnet as a service to them and great revenue source happily paid during vacations and travel.
Nando's Tier 3
Taco Casa >>>> everything else
Starbucks is Tier 6
Cane’s is getting disrespected
Jimmy John’s above Jersey Mike’s is asinine
Whataburger is Tier 3
Panera shouldn’t even be on the list.
they destroyed their menu either right before or during Covid.
anything other than the soup is incredibly overpriced (and terrible amount of calories too for zero protein entrees)
Workerd at cfa and now going to SLP after cvp
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