--- title: "Fast Food Brand Mentions: Starbucks Leads With 10.6 Million" url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/fast-food-brand-mentions-sentiment description: "Fast food brand mentions: Starbucks has 10.6 million, more than KFC and McDonald's combined, and 26.2% of fast food mentions are negative. Read the study." lang: en --- Share Share on X: https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Ffast-food-brand-mentions-sentiment&text=Starbucks%20Has%2010.6%20Million%20Online%20Mentions%2C%20More%20Than%20KFC%20and%20McDonald%27s%20Combined Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Ffast-food-brand-mentions-sentiment Share on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Ffast-food-brand-mentions-sentiment Share on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Ffast-food-brand-mentions-sentiment&title=Starbucks%20Has%2010.6%20Million%20Online%20Mentions%2C%20More%20Than%20KFC%20and%20McDonald%27s%20Combined Starbucks is named on **10.6 million** web pages, 28% of all online coverage of fast food brands and more than KFC (3.9 million) and McDonald's (3.5 million) put together. It also has one of the mildest tones, at 12.4% negative, against 26.2% for fast food overall. Analysis of 29,999 online mentions of 30 fast food brands · news sites, blogs, stores and other web pages, September 2026 ## Key Findings 1. 1. Starbucks is the most-mentioned fast food brand online, with **10.6 million** web mentions, 28% of the total for 27 fast food brands and more than KFC and McDonald's combined. Copy stat 2. 2. **26.2%** of recent online mentions of fast food brands are negative, the second-lowest share of eight industries, ahead of only hotels. Copy stat 3. 3. **34.8%** of news mentions of fast food brands are negative, against 19.9% of fast food mentions on other websites. Copy stat 4. 4. **33.4%** of recent online mentions of fast food brands are positive, and 15% are strongly negative. Copy stat 5. 5. Wingstop has the least negative coverage of 30 fast food brands, with just **2.4%** of recent mentions negative, against 26.2% for fast food overall. Copy stat ## Summary A new seasonal drink launches, a chain announces a value menu, a burger place opens its first location in a new city. Fast food brands generate a constant stream of launches, deals and openings, and blogs, deal sites and local news pick them up every day. For restaurant marketers, that stream is a big part of the brand's online image, and it is mostly upbeat. The negative side, from food safety stories to price complaints, concentrates in the news. Knowing where the tone comes from tells a brand which channel to manage. Fast food gets gentle coverage overall: **26.2%** of recent mentions are negative, the second-lowest of eight industries. Starbucks dominates volume, with 10.6 million web mentions, more than KFC and McDonald's combined, and keeps its negative share at 12.4%. On news pages, though, 34.8% of fast food mentions are negative. ## What we measured On September 23, 2026 we collected the 1,000 most recent online mentions of each of 30 well-known fast food brands, 29,999 mentions in all, from news sites, blogs, online stores and other pages. Each mention is scored automatically by a sentiment model for positive, negative and neutral tone, based on the text around the brand name, and web mentions count every page that contains the exact brand name. We also counted every web page that mentions each brand to measure its total coverage. A mention is positive or negative when that score is the highest of the three, and strongly negative when its negative score is above 0.5 on a scale of 0 to 1. Share of coverage is a brand's web mentions divided by the combined mentions of the 27 brands ranked; brands whose names are everyday words, such as Subway and Five Guys, are not ranked by coverage. The eight industries compared are fast food, banks, airlines, telecom, insurance, retail, streaming and hotels. ## Starbucks gets more coverage than KFC and McDonald's combined 10.6 million web pages mention Starbucks, the most of any fast food brand. Starbucks is mentioned on 10.6 million web pages, 28% of the total for the 27 fast food brands ranked. KFC (3.9 million) and McDonald's (3.5 million) follow, together still short of Starbucks. Burger King, Chipotle and Little Caesars complete the top six. Share of coverage by brand Starbucks 28% KFC 10% McDonald's 9.3% Burger King 7.3% Chipotle 6.9% Little Caesars 5.9% Taco Bell 4.6% Dunkin' 3.9% Pizza Hut 3.7% Chick-fil-A 2.7% Source: Suff Digital analysis of 29,999 online mentions of 30 fast food brands · news sites, blogs, stores and other web pages, September 2026 | Brand | Web mentions | Share of coverage | | --- | --- | --- | | Starbucks | 10.6M | 28% | | KFC | 3.9M | 10% | | McDonald's | 3.5M | 9.3% | | Burger King | 2.8M | 7.3% | | Chipotle | 2.6M | 6.9% | | Little Caesars | 2.2M | 5.9% | | Taco Bell | 1.7M | 4.6% | | Dunkin' | 1.5M | 3.9% | | Pizza Hut | 1.4M | 3.7% | | Chick-fil-A | 1M | 2.7% | Starbucks is more than a restaurant online. It is a daily habit, a workplace, a seasonal menu that food writers cover every fall, and a common reference in lifestyle writing. That reach comes with a mild tone: 12.4% of its recent mentions are negative, less than half the fast food average. ## Fast food gets some of the mildest coverage online 26.2% of recent fast food mentions are negative, the second-lowest share of the eight industries after hotels at 17.9%, and well below banks at 40.6%. 33.4% are positive, and 15% are strongly negative. Scores are automated and cover each brand's 1,000 most recent mentions. Recent mentions scored negative by industry Banks 40.6% Airlines 38.1% Telecom 35.1% Insurance 33% Retail 29.4% Streaming 27.5% Fast food 26.2% Hotels 17.9% Menu launches, deals and new locations give fast food brands a steady supply of neutral and positive coverage. A cheap meal rarely inspires the long complaints that a bank fee or a canceled flight does, and deal sites and food blogs write about chains in upbeat terms. ## News coverage of fast food is far harsher News pages carry 42.3% of all fast food mentions, and 34.8% of those mentions are negative, against 19.9% on blogs, stores and other page types. Local papers and TV stations cover openings, closures and incidents at individual locations, so fast food brands appear in local news constantly. Share negative by where the mention appears All pages 26.2% News pages 34.8% Other pages 19.9% For a fast food brand, the gap means the web is split in two: friendly deal and food coverage, and a news stream that is far tougher. The news side is where a single incident at one location can shape the whole brand's tone. ## Wingstop and Little Caesars draw the mildest coverage Wingstop has the least negative coverage of the 30 fast food brands, with just 2.4% of recent mentions negative. Little Caesars (11.6%), Starbucks (12.4%), Shake Shack (13.6%) and Chipotle (13.7%) complete the five mildest. Recent mentions scored negative by brand Wingstop 2.4% Little Caesars 11.6% Starbucks 12.4% Shake Shack 13.6% Chipotle 13.7% At the other end, the most negatively covered chain has 58.6% of its recent mentions negative, and no other is above 46%. A recall, a lawsuit or a viral complaint can move a single brand's tone far more than the industry's. ## What this means for restaurant marketing and PR teams Keep the launch engine running. Menu news, deals and openings are what keep fast food coverage mostly positive, so a steady calendar of genuinely newsworthy announcements does double duty: it drives visits and keeps the tone mild. Manage the news side separately. With 34.8% of news mentions negative, against 19.9% elsewhere, local news about individual locations deserves its own monitoring and a fast, local response process, so one branch's incident does not become the brand's story. Benchmark against the 26.2% fast food average and track the news share every month. Our media monitoring (https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr/brand-mentions) service tracks restaurant brand mentions by location and source, so teams see a local story before it spreads. ## Embed this research Paste this on your site to embed the charts. It links back to the source automatically.

Source: Starbucks Has 10.6 Million Online Mentions, More Than KFC and McDonald's Combined - Suff Digital

## Cite this study APA Suff Digital. (2026). Starbucks Has 10.6 Million Online Mentions, More Than KFC and McDonald's Combined. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/fast-food-brand-mentions-sentiment Plain link Starbucks Has 10.6 Million Online Mentions, More Than KFC and McDonald's Combined - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/fast-food-brand-mentions-sentiment ## Frequently asked questions ### Which fast food brand gets the most online coverage? ### What share of online mentions of fast food brands are negative? ### Are news mentions of fast food brands more negative? ### Which fast food brands have the least negative online coverage? ## Related studies - Digital PR Temu Out-Mentions eBay and Walmart Online With 69.7 Million Web Mentions: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/retail-brand-mentions-sentiment - Digital PR 38.5% of Brand Mentions on News Pages Are Negative vs 26.2% on Other Websites: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/negative-brand-mentions-online - Digital PR Disney+ Tops Streaming Brand Mentions Online With 71.5 Million, Ahead of Netflix: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/streaming-brand-mentions-sentiment - Digital PR 54% of News Mentions of Airline Brands Are Negative vs 32% Elsewhere Online: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/airline-brand-mentions-sentiment ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization", "name": "Suff Digital", "alternateName": "Suff Digital Marketing", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "contentUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "caption": "Suff Digital" }, "image": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo" }, "description": "Suff Digital is a full-stack digital marketing agency that turns websites into predictable revenue engines, SEO, paid media, content, CRO, and web design built around revenue, not vanity metrics.", "slogan": "Digital marketing built for what's next.", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "foundingDate": "2022", "founder": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO" }, "contactPoint": [ { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "contactType": "sales", "areaServed": "US", "availableLanguage": [ "en" ] } ], "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "Nashville", "addressRegion": "TN", "postalCode": "37219", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/suff-digital/", "https://www.instagram.com/suffdigital/", "https://www.youtube.com/@suffdigitalmarketing", "https://www.tiktok.com/@suffdigital" ], "knowsAbout": [ "Search Engine Optimization", "Pay-Per-Click Advertising", "Paid Social Advertising", "Conversion Rate Optimization", "Web Design", "Digital PR", "Link Building", "Website Migration", "Website Maintenance and Support", "Technical SEO", "Local SEO", "AI Search Optimization" ], "hasOfferCatalog": { "@type": "OfferCatalog", "name": "Suff Digital Services", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/ppc" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Paid Social Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/paid-social" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/cro" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Web Design", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/web-design" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Digital PR & Link Building", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Migration", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-migration" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Maintenance & Support", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-maintenance" } } ] } }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "name": "Suff Digital", "inLanguage": "en-US", "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" } } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/fast-food-brand-mentions-sentiment#article", "headline": "Starbucks Has 10.6 Million Online Mentions, More Than KFC and McDonald's Combined", "description": "Starbucks is named on 10.6 million web pages, 28% of all online coverage of fast food brands and more than KFC (3.9 million) and McDonald's (3.5 million) put together. 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