Chick-fil-a is America's favourite fast food restaurant, customer satisfaction report says

The Georgia-based chicken company beat competitors like Papa John's Pizza and Chipotle

In the battle between America’s fast food titans, one would think the hamburger would reign supreme; but customers appear to be going the way of the chicken when ordering their meals from the seat of their cars.

Chick-Fil-A came in number one according to the the latest report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The chicken chain soared above its competitors with a score of 87 out of 100, the report shows.

The secret to their success, it seems, is keeping their menu simple and unwavering.

“They have a pretty limited selection of offerings and are really focused on chicken and chicken sandwiches,” director of research at American Customer Satisfaction Index, Forrest Morgeson, told CNN Money. “They focus on what they do best, and it does well.”

Chick-Fil-A has garnered negative publicity in recent years, as their CEO made statements against same-sex marriage, as well as the company's reported support for anti-LGBTQ nonprofits.

CEO Dan Cathy had publicly declared that the company supported “traditional marriage” in 2012. The claim was exacerbated by apparent millions of dollars in contributions to anti-LGBTQ organisations, like Marriage & Family Foundation, the National Christian Foundation, Family Research Council, and Exodus International.

Recent tax filings, however, have shown a significant decrease in contributions to organisations with specifically anti-LGBTQ agendas.

"I still wouldn’t call Chick-fil-A a gay-friendly company, but I would say that our dialogues and conversation that Campus Pride has had has been a positive one. There is some, albeit small, progress there,” Shane Windemeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, told qnotes.

Controversy notwithstanding, Chick-Fil-A has garnered the favour of American fast food connoisseurs, followed closest by Papa John’s Pizza at 82 points.

Seemingly cursed by food poisoning scares over the past year, Chipotle saw the sharpest decline in the report, falling 6 per cent to 78. Reports of e coli caused the closure of hundreds of locations throughout the US.