Buffalo is Bottom of the Food Chain
And that is not such a bad thing! Go figure since locally owned eateries greatly outnumber national chains... thank goodness. We've got so many independently owned restaurant choices here that many people opt not to frequent places like Burger King and KFC on a regular basis. Buffalonians still visit a fast food restaurant an average of 4.5 times a month, and that is not terrible when you take into consideration that the average number of visits is 5.2. Birmingham tops off the list at a whopping 6.5! That's good news for Buffalo, and great news for our locally owned restaurants. For the full list of rankings, click continue.
Scarborough Research, the leading market research firm for identifying the shopping, media and lifestyle patterns of adults in the United States, released an analysis of quick service and sit-down restaurant patronage in the U.S. According to Scarborough, the average adult visits a quick service restaurant such as McDonaldis or Subway 5.2 times in a given month. Birmingham, AL, residents, however, visit a quick service restaurant 6.5 times in the average month. Louisville, KY (6.4 average visits fast food restaurant visits per month), Austin, TX (6.3 average visits), Memphis, TN (6.3 average visits) and Raleigh, NC (6.2 average visits) round out the top five local markets for frequent fast food restaurant patronage.
Full local market rankings follow. Scarborough Local Market Analysis: Average Number of Visits to Quick Service
DMA(R)* Average Number of Visits, Past 30 Days Index**
Birmingham, AL 6.5 Louisville, KY 6.4 Austin, TX 6.3 Memphis, TN 6.3 Tulsa, OK 6.2 Raleigh/Durham, NC 6.2 Atlanta, GA 6.2 San Antonio, TX 6.2 Oklahoma City, OK 6.2 Nashville, TN 6.1 Indianapolis, IN 6.1 Lexington, KY 6.1 Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, NC 6.1 Dayton, OH 6.0 Kansas City, MO 6.0 Knoxville, TN 6.0 Charlotte, NC 6.0 Columbus, OH 6.0 Cincinnati, OH 6.0 Jacksonville, FL 5.9 Charleston/Huntington, WV 5.9 Houston, TX 5.9 Norfolk/Portsmouth/Newport News, VA 5.9 Chicago, IL 5.8 Mobile, AL/Pensacola, FL 5.8 Los Angeles, CA 5.8 Dallas/Fort Worth, TX 5.8 St. Louis, MO 5.8 Las Vegas, NV 5.8 Wichita/Hutchinson, KS 5.8 Greenville, SC 5.8 Salt Lake City, UT 5.8 El Paso, TX 5.6 Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA 5.6 Richmond/Petersburg, VA 5.6 Toledo, OH 5.5 Phoenix, AZ 5.5 Flint/Saginaw/Bay City, MI 5.5 Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, CA 5.5 Fresno/Visalia, CA 5.5 Detroit, MI 5.4 Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne, FL 5.4 Denver, CO 5.4 Cleveland/Akron, OH 5.3 Milwaukee, WI 5.3 Washington, D.C. 5.2 San Diego, CA 5.2 Honolulu, HI 5.2 Des Moines/Ames, IL 5.2 Tucson, AZ 5.1 Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN 5.1 Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM 5.1 Baltimore, MD 5.0 Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL 5.0 Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, MI 4.9 Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, FL 4.8 Portland, OR 4.7 Providence/New Bedford, RI 4.7 San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, CA 4.7 Seattle/Tacoma, WA 4.6 West Palm Beach/Fort Pierce, FL 4.6 Buffalo, NY 4.5 Pittsburgh, PA 4.5 Spokane, WA 4.5 Boston, MA 4.3 Rochester, NY 4.3 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA 4.3 New York, NY 4.2 Albany/Schenectady/Troy, NY 4.1 Hartford/New Haven, CT 4.1 Harrisburg/Lancaster/Lebanon/York, PA 4.1 Philadelphia, PA 4.1 Syracuse, NY 4.0 Fort Myers/Naples, FL 4.0
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Comment Options
viking
Are the top contenders red or blue states, their political leaning may have something to do with eating practices.
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STEEL
The top of the list is dominated by southern cities.
It is nice seeing Buffalo keeping company with some of the nations most sophisticated cities. Good going Buffalo.
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viking
Bflo Rising independently bringing the best , thank you.
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Marcia
I agree with Steel it is interesting that those at the top of the list are all southern cities. It must be some correlation between fast food restaurants and the southern states high obesity rates. That and the fact that southerners fry just about everything they eat.
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Jessica
This does more to combat Buffalo stereotypes and show off what's good about this region than anything in the Sabres/Buffalo boosting post in City, as nice and well-intentioned as that post was. The fast-food statistics show the Buffalo I know o where I walk to the neighborhood coffee shop or pizza place (or to pick up an all-veggie bacon cheeseburger) a couple of times a week and never ever use a drive-thru.
All right, I'll say it: how many people in Raliegh could walk to get an all-veggie bacon cheeseburger and a six of gourmet beer? (couldn't resist)
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viking
It's the food not the geography, or maybe the mind set of those selling the food to those who allow others to think they know what's best for them. Premixed, manufactured, artificial, sugar coated, chemically treated, attractively packaged and harmful in large quantities. No-- it's both.
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Yossarian
Seriously, though, I am going to try one of those KFC mashed-potato-chicken-gravey-corn bowls they kept advertising during the playoffs.
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Darrell
Iim lame and I just found this website but I love it. I lived in Tennessee for 5 years and the thing I missed most was the food. Seriously Buffalo has some of the best food anywhere and itis such a shame that itis only known for wings. Southern supermarkets lack good foods as well, just check out a Kroger on your next trip below the Mason-Dixon. I lived in Murfreesboro and it at one point held a record for most fast food joints/people ratio. I thought there would be a BBQ joint on every corner, turns out I can get better bbq here.
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