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
Arby's Boys guy would disagree.
Starbucks gives you a 50% chance of being seen as a blue-haired they/them creature. Not prestigious.
EDI hire
Chipotle is 1A especially since its the only fast food that can give you actual good macros for gainz
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.
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.
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