it is out of concern for their reputation alone that I will only address this matter in private
decisions that franchises make often affect public perception so on that note here are 10 major
restaurant chains with a bad reputation Starbucks Starbucks has a surprise for you Starbucks
is beloved by many and is the largest coffee franchise in the world sometimes it seems like
there's a Starbucks on every corner with several thousand possibilities for drink combinations on
a seemingly endlessly customizable menu there is something for just about everyone at Starbucks
plus they love Starbucks despite the fact that they are extremely popular and a daily stop for
a lot of consumers it does not stop them from having a bit of a tainted reputation a small
number of customers were rather outraged when Starbucks began to raise their prices though
this is something that is pretty common in a lot of service Industries this wouldn't be the biggest
thing that would leave Starbucks reputation a little worse for wear in fact their price
hikes would be left in the dust when people found out that Starbucks had been using less than ideal
methods to prevent some of their staff at their stores from unionizing they even went as far as
trying to intimidate their employees employees who are often overworked and underpaid hence
why they felt the need to unionize in the first place while you may enjoy Starbucks drinks or
food that doesn't mean the corporation itself is upstanding their past actions have shown otherwise
Chick-fil-A watch your back Chick-fil-A known largely for its chicken and service with a smile
Chick-fil-A has been at the top of third-party customer service surveys for years people enjoy
seemingly clean restaurants Quick Service and hot and delicious food and while they may be able to
offer some fantastic customer service and food that brings people back time and time again they
have not been able to avoid their fair share of controversy which has garnered them a less than
ideal reputation among many Chick-fil-A came Under Fire a few years ago when mainstream
media sources reported that the company had donated several million dollars to causes that
were aimed at opposing same-sex marriage along with several other anti-lgbtq plus organizations
it's not fair Chick-fil-A's corporate routes are based around the original Founders religious
beliefs and apparently that means supporting less than popular causes this would not be the first
and only instance of the company going against the lgbtq plus Community most people would agree
that everyone deserves to be treated equally no matter their gender or orientation despite all
this many people still continue to frequent the restaurant whether it's because they have the
same beliefs don't know about the franchise's history or because they simply love their food
too much to stop going so while Chick-fil-A may have a bad reputation among many they are not
likely to close their doors anytime soon at least not due to these specific issues Burger King oh
I love Burger King don't you there are several third-party companies that will conduct customer
service satisfaction surveys in order to rank restaurants according to how happy the customers
are with the service cleanliness and food among a few other criteria for a while now Burger King has
continued to be rated very low in customer service in most categories which is more than enough to
earn them at least a bit of a bad reputation I'm gonna grab a breaker you want something
I don't want a burger this is not the only thing that has caused Burger King's reputation to drop
down though on top of their low ratings among most customers they have had their fair share
of bad history among the lgbtq plus community in recent years they have made an attempt at trying
to repair this though it mostly just ended up with BK receiving even more criticism for trying
too hard to make it seem like they're a good company rather than truly improving things one
of these attempts of repairing their reputation was an attempt at using the Chick-fil-A Scandal
to show their supposed support for the lgbtq plus Community though many people called them out for
their history of discrimination against lgbtq plus employees stating that donating a few cents per
purchase to a charity was not enough to forget the company's True Colors so while Burger King may be
a favorite restaurant of some many people dislike it whether it's for their past transgressions or
simply because of their less than ideal service and food Waffle House Waffle House yeah Waffle
House has gained a reputation as a loud and not ideal dining experience many customers rate it
poorly because of the fact that it feels near impossible to have a conversation while eating
your meal unless you feel like yelling over all the noise on top of the noise Factor over 20
percent of customers said that they felt that the Waffle House chain was dirty and not well
maintained which is not exactly the type of place that sounds like some place you would want to eat
Waffle House has never tried to be a high-end type restaurant they are mostly known as a roadside
stop that is open whenever you need to stop for a bite to eat while they do not have the greatest
reputation when it comes to being clean or a good place to have a conversation this has not stopped
them from capitalizing on the fact that their name is still known this is a hundred waffle
houses in Atlanta in fact Waffle House has been mentioned in several pop culture scenarios whether
it be TV or movies or even songs so while a bad reputation is not something that most companies
ideally want to have attached to their names this is not stopped Waffle House from turning a profit
and remaining a top competitor in the restaurant business McDonald's you have your own McDonald's
no way McDonald's has been a household name for a lot of years known all around the world for their
Big Macs McNuggets and salty fries they have not always had the best reputation though with past
scandals ranging anywhere from the quality of their food to misleading customers in regards
to whether or not their fries are cooked in oil that contains meat products or not McDonald's has
had more than its fair share of scandals over the years of operation and all of them have caused the
company to take a small hit but none of them have been enough to truly topple the fast food Empire
their cleanliness has come into question as well from mold being found in their ice cream machines
to employees that were caught serving food that had fallen on the floor instead of just throwing
it out while some say it may be a bit hard to properly clean everything while trying to serve
fast food as quickly as they are expected to that's not an excuse It's never an excuse at
the very least McDonald's should be following the most basic of Health guidelines expected in all of
their restaurants Papa John's I said Papa John's Papa John's is a much beloved Pizza chain or at
least it was much beloved until the founder really started to show his true colors while the company
did not lose all of its customers or anything near as dramatic as that they did take a rather large
hit to their reputation when the news broke about the founders scandals the first of the largest
scandals that would see the downfall of Papa John's founder would be when he blamed low sales
during NFL games on the fact that some of the players were kneeling during the national anthem a
movement that was done to call attention to racial inequity issues if this is the pizza guy this is
really unprofessional people were outraged that John Schnatter would use something like that as a
scapegoat for their sales being low during games while people were upset by this statement this was
not yet the breaking point for the founder the final straw would come shortly after when news
broke that the founder used a racial slur during a business call the General Public called for him to
be removed from the company and that was exactly what was done he was removed from his position
and also publicly stepped down as chairman of the company at a press conference while the founder
was no longer part of the company Papa John's did see a drop in sales its bad reputation seemed to
be here to stay while it has been a few years since all of this happened consumers have still
not forgotten sobarro hey it's Pizza Time and you've lost it no pizza is a beloved food found
in many places around the world and while it may not be the same everywhere you go you can always
get a slice with local flavors and twists just about anywhere you travel Sbarro is a fast food
restaurant chain that largely focuses on offering what they call a New York style pizza found in
several places internationally Sbarro's reputation has been going downhill for a few years now their
decline however unlike other restaurants on this list did not originate with any huge Scandal
instead sabaro has gained a bad reputation from Simply serving bad food customers say that the
appeal is just not there and Sbarro has been stuck in the past serving 80 style food court
Pizza in a world where there are many other fast food options this doesn't make any sense Sbarro
first gained popularity by opening a large number of small restaurants mostly located in food courts
of large retail malls they thrived for a while mile being one of the first to bring hot pizza
to food courts but their lack of innovation or ability to change has caused their slow Decline
and their reputation has suffered among those hungry Shoppers looking for something to eat as
a result sabaro has been closing restaurants left and right leaving them with only about
600 locations internationally Carl's Jr I wish for Infinity hamburgers Carl's Jr is a chain of burger
restaurants recognizable by the happy yellow and red star that adorns their signs and logos they
originally opened in California in the 1950s and were very quickly to expand to the rest of
the United States and Beyond they became largely known for over-the-top hamburgers and messy meals
which many people enjoyed and still do to this day while their food may not be the source of
their bad reputation entirely Carl's Jr has a long history and included in that history have been a
few bad moments one would be staff members who do not exactly follow food handling guidelines
including one Canadian employee who was caught mixing the tubs of sauce with his entire arm how
can you eat those aside from the few troubled employees that the company has had Carl's Jr
has also had troubles with the founders political leanings founder Carl Karcher was found to have
donated a large amount of money to politicians who were actively supporting anti-lgbtq plus movements
he has also been known to donate money to other unpopular platforms including movements to limit
women's rights aside from the founders political leanings the late 1980s also saw a scandal when
it was found that some higher-ups at Carl's Jr were guilty of insider trading while Carl's Jr
may have made some strides and Innovations in the world of fast food hamburgers their reputation has
most definitely taken its lumps in other ways Krispy Kreme I was told there'd be Donuts well
we'll set you up over its date Donuts are a sweet and fun treat for any occasion whether you you
include them in your morning meal or just enjoy them as a dessert they're extremely popular Donuts
have revolutionized many times over the years with different flavor combinations and wacky toppings
and fillings always being introduced Krispy Kreme has made a name for themselves in the baked goods
and coffee industry but what most people know them for is their variety of delicious donuts
Unfortunately they have made a few decisions in their past that have left them with a bad
reputation among consumers what was that percent the first was their attempt at rolling out their
own loyalty Club the issue wasn't the fact that they tried to create a loyalty Club the issue
was what the company wanted to name the club after releasing the name in a test Market it
was quickly removed and never mentioned again people were out-ranged by the fact that they
had named it Krispy Kreme club or KKK for short as we all know these are not three letters that
anyone should be associating themselves with now while this wasn't done on purpose it was a huge
oversight for the company and caused them a PR hit they could never truly recover from while that was
probably the largest blunder made by the company themselves it would not be the only Scandal that
Krispy Kreme would see in their history Burger I am do you remember this burgerim had a short and
tumultuous time as a company while the franchise saw quick growth and plenty of profit burgerim no
longer exists in the market burgerim specialized in smaller slider type burgers that were
customizable not much is known about the company's past as much of it was kept hidden by those who
were in charge what we do know is they left a wake of Destruction behind them they expanded quickly
bringing on any franchisee who wanted to jump on the train seemingly with no sort of actual check
to see if they were fit to run a burger franchise their reputation quickly tanked after a few years
of popularity mainly due to the fact that they began to seemingly drop support for their
franchisees often leaving them to keep their heads above water with no clue what they were doing the
company quickly began experiencing problems I think that's pretty obvious when franchisees
began to file lawsuits stating they were being lied to about the franchise costs needless to
say their growth had come to a halt as quickly as it started due to negligence of management