A Blackstone-Owned Sandwich Chain Just Dethroned Chick-fil-A and the Media Called It News

Chick-fil-A just got knocked off an 11-year perch by a University of Michigan survey.

The chain that replaced it is majority-owned by a Wall Street private equity firm.

Before the media runs another headline about America's new favorite fast food, someone should explain how this actually works.

What the ACSI Is and Why It Doesn't Matter

The American Customer Satisfaction Index is a University of Michigan-developed survey tool that companies pay to participate in, based on email questionnaires sent to roughly 16,000 people over the course of a year.

Jersey Mike's wasn't even in the rankings before 2026.

They debuted this year – and immediately scored an 84, one point above Chick-fil-A's 83 – because the ACSI specifically credited "rapid unit growth, strong customer demand, and a model designed around throughput and off-premise convenience from high digital pickup usage."

That's not customer satisfaction. That's a logistics report.

Industry analysts at Verint note the model was built in 1994 and "has not been changed significantly despite subsequent research into its shortcomings." Among those shortcomings – no word-of-mouth measurement, weak links between expectations and actual satisfaction, and a model that conflates volume growth with loyalty.

Chick-fil-A didn't lose a single customer. Its score held at 83 – exactly where it's been for years.

Jersey Mike's won by showing up to a competition Chick-fil-A didn't know it had entered.

Who Actually Won Here

In January 2025, Blackstone – the world's largest alternative asset manager, with over $1 trillion under management – completed a majority acquisition of Jersey Mike's for a reported $8 billion.

Blackstone publishes a full Sustainability Report. It operates a Decarbonization Accelerator across its portfolio companies. It is a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment. It is a member of the ILPA Diversity in Action Initiative.

The same Wall Street machine conservatives have spent years criticizing for injecting ESG politics into American business now owns the chain that just "dethroned" Chick-fil-A.

And here's what Blackstone's money bought: rapid expansion. Jersey Mike's added 238 net new locations in 2025 alone, reaching more than 3,200 restaurants. The ACSI explicitly credited that growth as a driver of Jersey Mike's top score – rewarding the chain for scaling fast, not for serving customers better.

Chick-fil-A added 178 locations in 2025 – and still generated $23.9 billion in systemwide sales.

On six days a week.

The numbers tell a different story than the survey. Each standalone Chick-fil-A location generates nearly $9.2 million in average annual sales – more than double McDonald's per-unit average. Chick-fil-A is the third largest restaurant chain in America, behind only McDonald's and Starbucks, operating from roughly 3,300 locations. Jersey Mike's needs more than 3,200 locations to generate $4.2 billion.

Customers aren't abandoning Chick-fil-A. They're packing it every day it's open.

The Survey America Should Ignore

The fast food industry posted its slowest growth outside the pandemic in 2025 – chain restaurant sales grew just 3 percent against 3.8 percent menu-price inflation.

Americans are getting pickier about where they spend.

What they're choosing, in massive numbers, is Chick-fil-A – a chain with the highest per-location sales in the fast food industry, run by owner-operators who answer to no private equity firm and no Wall Street sustainability report.

A University of Michigan email survey of 16,000 people didn't change that.

Blackstone's $8 billion didn't change that.

Chick-fil-A will be packed tomorrow. It was packed today. It's been packed every day except Sunday for 80 years.

The ACSI can crown whoever it wants. The lines don't lie.

Sources:

• Fox News Digital, "Fast-food giant dethroned as customer study crowns America's new favorite restaurant chain," Fox News, June 2026.
• Staff Report, "Jersey Mike's is now ranked above Chick-fil-A for customer satisfaction," NewsNation, June 2026.
• Staff Report, "Sandwich chain topples Chick-fil-A for top-ranked fast food restaurant," MyPanhandle/ACSI Release, June 2026.
• Verint Research, "ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) Model: Strengths and Weaknesses," Verint, May 2025.
• Jonathan Maze, "Chick-fil-A's unit volumes hit a ceiling," Restaurant Business, April 2026.
• Blackstone, "Jersey Mike's to Partner with Blackstone," Blackstone Press Release, November 2024.
• NJBIZ, "Blackstone completes Jersey Mike's Subs acquisition," March 2025.
• QSR Magazine, "Jersey Mike's Reported Another Year of Growth in 2025," QSR Magazine, April 2026.