2026-03-14 | data, chains, safety, rankings
Is Your Favorite Chain Clean? Chicago Fast Food Safety Rankings
16 chains, 2,300+ inspections, ranked by pass rate
Every fast food location in Chicago gets inspected by the same department, same criteria, same violation codes. When you have 95 active McDonald's locations all running the same corporate playbook, the inspection results tell you how well that playbook actually works.
We pulled two years of data for 16 major chains. Every location, every inspection, every result.
The Rankings
Chipotle leads. 77% pass rate across 41 locations. After their 2015 E. coli disaster they spent over $100 million rebuilding their food safety program and it shows in the data.
KFC at 69%. McDonald's and Taco Bell tied at 67%.
At the bottom: Domino's at 43%. Panda Express at 45%. These chains are failing more often than the average independent restaurant, which passes about 51% of the time. Think about that — the independent taqueria with no corporate food safety program is outperforming Domino's.
Popeyes at 52% with 47 failures in two years across 37 locations. That's more than one failure per location.
Centralized food safety management programs at the corporate level are the single strongest predictor of franchise-level inspection outcomes.
| Rank | Chain | Locations | Pass Rate | Fails (2yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chipotle | 41 | 77% | 14 |
| 2 | KFC | 22 | 69% | 12 |
| 3 | McDonald's | 95 | 67% | 18 |
| 4 | Taco Bell | 41 | 67% | 8 |
| 5 | Burger King | 47 | 65% | 11 |
| 6 | Chick-fil-A | 13 | 65% | 4 |
| 7 | Wingstop | 32 | 65% | 17 |
| 8 | Portillo's | 3 | 64% | 2 |
| 9 | Starbucks | 110 | 62% | 24 |
| 10 | Subway | 202 | 60% | 82 |
| 11 | Dunkin' | 172 | 58% | 53 |
| 12 | Wendy's | 27 | 57% | 25 |
| 13 | Jimmy John's | 44 | 55% | 17 |
| 14 | Popeyes | 37 | 52% | 47 |
| 15 | Panda Express | 14 | 45% | 5 |
| 16 | Domino's | 29 | 43% | 7 |
How we calculate safety verdicts
What Separates Top from Bottom
The 34-point gap between Chipotle (77%) and Domino's (43%) is not a location quality issue. Both chains are scattered across the city, including neighborhoods with heavy pest pressure. The difference is operational.
Chains with strong corporate food safety programs — Chipotle, McDonald's, Chick-fil-A — pass at higher rates. Chains where franchise operators have more autonomy over kitchen management do worse.
Popeyes is the clearest example. Thirty-seven locations, 47 failures. The violations cluster around temperature control and sanitation. These are staffing and training problems. The building is fine. The procedures aren't being followed.
After their 2015 E. coli outbreak, Chipotle invested over $100 million in food safety infrastructure.
Popeyes safety report | Chipotle safety report
The Subway Problem
Subway is the biggest chain in the city. 202 locations. Pass rate: 60%. That comes with 82 failures in two years.
The model explains it. Small footprint, low rent, often one employee on shift doing everything — making sandwiches, running the register, cleaning. The most common violations: temperature control (cold cuts sitting out too long) and sanitation (same gloves for food, cash, and wiping down the counter).
60% is above the city average. Subway isn't dangerous. But if you're picking between two sandwich shops and one is a Subway, the odds slightly favor the other one.
Full Subway safety report | What does 'Pass with Conditions' mean?
Your specific McDonald's might be spotless while another one across town is failing. Chain averages are starting points. If you want to check your location, every restaurant in the city is searchable on Chispections.