McDonald’s, KFC, Hungry Jack’s, Domino’s Pizza and Subway are Australia’s favourite restaurants
New research from Roy Morgan shows 19.2 million Australians aged 14+ (82.5%) ate take away food in an average six months from fast food outlets such as McDonald’s, KFC, Hungry Jack’s, Domino’s Pizza or from the local fish and chips shop or pizza shop in the 12 months to June 2026.
This is up slightly, by 1,204,000 (+6.7%), since 2021-22 when 18 million Australians ate take away food from fast food outlets, although equivalent to a higher share, 85%, of the population.
The top seven outlets include sandwich and salad outlet Subway with over 4.5 million customers followed by Mexican cuisine outlet Guzman & Gomez (3.6 million) and chicken-based Red Rooster (3.3 million).
Filling out the top ten outlets are Australian-owned gourmet burger chain Grill’d with almost 2.7 million customers, Pizza Hut with over 1.8 million customers, and in tenth place is the Australian-owned Portuguese inspired cuisine outlet Oporto with almost 1.7 million customers.
Top 10 Quick Service Restaurants: Australians aged 14+ who ate at or had take away in an average six months – 12 months to June 2026
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source: July 2025 – June 2026, n = 59,959. Base: Australians aged 14+.
Millennials are the biggest customer group for the top 3 – McDonald’s, KFC & Hungry Jack’s
Analysing the leading quick service restaurants by generation shows that Millennials, born from 1980-1995 and now aged from 30-45 years old, are the biggest customers of all three of the leading fast-food outlets – McDonald’s, KFC and Hungry Jack’s – narrowly ahead of the younger Generation Z (aged from 15-30).
Over 3.4 million Millennials are McDonald’s customers in an average six months, over 3.1 million choose KFC and Hungry Jack’s has more than 1.8 million. In comparison, among Generation Z, McDonald’s has almost 3 million customers, KFC has nearly 2.9 million customers, and Hungary Jack’s has over 1.6 million.
Older generations have fewer customers of fast-food outlets, but McDonald’s remains the leading choice for Generation X, Baby Boomers and the Interwar generation while the ubiquitous hamburger restaurant narrowly has the edge amongst the youngest Gen Alpha – people born in 2011 or later.
Top 3 Quick Service Restaurants eat at or have take away in an average six months by Generation
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source: July 2025 – June 2026, n = 59,959. Base: Australians aged 14+.
Over one-in-four Australians eat fast food 5+ times in an average four weeks
A small minority of around one-in-ten Australians are ‘big fans’ of quick service restaurants with 2.5 million Australians (10.5%) visiting, or purchasing from, fast-food outlets 10 or more times in an average four weeks.
An even larger group of almost 4 million (17%) eat fast-food 5-9 times in an average four weeks – a total of over 6.4 million (27.5%) that eat fast food 5+ times in an average four weeks.
A large number of Australians are less frequent customers of fast-food outlets with a total of over 10.3 million Australians (44.4%), eating fast food 1-4 times in an average four weeks.
On average Australians make 3.8 visits to quick service restaurants in an average four weeks, up slightly from 3.7 times a year ago.
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says Australia’s top fast-food outlets are patronised by millions of Australians and over 80% eat from a quick service restaurant in an average six months – equivalent to 19.2 million Australians aged 14+:
“The latest Roy Morgan data shows over four-fifths of Australians aged 14+, 19.2 million (82.5%), ate take away food from fast food outlets in an average six months in the latest reporting period.
“This is basically unchanged on a year ago, but up 1.2 million (+6.7%) from four years ago in 2021-22 as Australia was still enduring COVID-19 pandemic related restrictions. The final pandemic isolation protocols ended by October 2022.
“The most popular fast-food restaurants have remained unchanged in recent years with McDonalds (11.3 million customers) and KFC – Kentucky Fried Chicken (10.3 million customers) far and away the two most popular fast-food outlets reaching 48.7% (McDonalds) and 44.4% (KFC) of the population in a given six-month period.
“Other popular restaurants include popular burger chain Hungary Jack’s (6.3 million customers), Domino’s Pizza (5.2 million customers), choose your own sandwich shop Subway (4.5 million customers), and fast Mexican cuisine outlet Guzman Y Gomez (3.6 million customers) all attracting at least 15% of Australians through the doors in a six-month period.
“Outside the top six, a further eight fast-food outlets have at least 1 million customers including the heavily chicken focused Red Rooster, Australian-owned gourmet burger outlet Grill’d, Pizza Hut, Portuguese-cuisine inspired outlets Oporto and Nando’s, and Mexican cuisine outlet Zambrero’s.
“A look at fast-food restaurant patronage by generation shows it is Millennials (born 1980-1995) that are the largest market with 5.2 million visiting fast-food outlets, ahead of the younger Generation Z (4.5 million), and the older Generation X & Baby Boomers (both around 4.3 million).
“Across the generations there can be only one favourite outlet with McDonald’s the leading fast-food option for all six generations including the rising Generation Alpha (born from 2011 onwards), and the Interwar Generation born prior to 1946. KFC is a clear second for all six generations, and Hungry Jack’s is a clear third across the different age ranges.
“Important for these outlets is attracting repeat customers who may return multiple times over a short period. The data shows that over a quarter of Australians, 6.4 million customers (27.5%), eat 5+ times from quick service restaurants in an average four weeks, or at least once a week.
“There is considerable scope for quick service restaurants who can identify who these people are and find ways to increase engagement to add value to their offering through customer loyalty programs that reward frequent visits.”
For comments and information about Roy Morgan’s latest quick service restaurant and additional food and meal delivery service data, please contact:
Roy Morgan Enquiries
Office: +61 (3) 9224 5309
Related research findings
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Compiled with data from Roy Morgan’s Single Source survey (the largest of its kind in the world, with 50,000 respondents p.a), these ready-made profiles provide a broad understanding of the target
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
