The chain restaurant world is a bit schizophrenic as it navigates various macro factors. Headlines point to Culver’s, Texas Roadhouse, and Nothing Bundt Cakes opening hundreds of new locations; while Wendy’s, Papa John’s, and Pizza Hut close hundreds. SOCi has made some sense of these events.
Specifically, the agentic workforce player has tapped into its Local Visibility Index (LVI) to define the top expanding and contracting multi-location (MULO) restaurant brands. More importantly, it extracted common elements of each to define what factors drive success or failure in today’s MULO landscape.
While SOCi admits that several variables factor in (think: menus), one resounding element that maps to brand expansion or contraction is online presence. For example, in cases of contraction, there’s a consistent and measurable gap in brand visibility across top channels: search, reviews, social, and AI.
“What our research shows is a strong correlation between a brand’s local digital presence and its ability to be found,” SOCi CMO Monica Ho told Localogy Insider. “Growing chains are simply easier for consumers, and now AI assistants, to discover in the moments that matter.”
Opportunity Gap
Going more granular, what are the most impactful visibility metrics in SOCi’s findings? And what media channels had the greatest correlation between visibility and real-world business growth? In short, AI engine visibility represented the biggest gap, and therefore opportunity, for brands to catch up.
Here are the top findings and data points we extracted.
The AI Gap: Growing/expanding chains are recommended by ChatGPT in about 20 percent of queries tested by SOCi. This compares to 3 percent for contracting brands – a gap of almost 7x. Gemini and Perplexity show a similar pattern.
Don’t Forget Search: Expanding chains appear in Google’s 3-Pack in 35.5 percent of searches tracked by SOCi. This compares with 14.4 percent for contracting chains. They also hold the top organic Yelp position almost twice as often.
Reining in Reputation: Expanding brands have better ratings – averaging 4.39 on Google and 3.65 on Yelp. This compares with 3.82 and 2.49, respectively, for contracting brands. To put that in perspective, it’s the difference of almost a full star on Yelp. Expanding brands are also faster and more comprehensive in responding to reviews, with a 72.4 percent response rate (vs. 43.6 percent for contracting brands), and 2-3x response time.
Social Strategy: Expanding brands achieve a 3.45 percent engagement rate on average with local audiences for posted content. That compares with 0.13 percent for contracting brands – a ~26x difference. They also boast ~5x greater follower counts on average than contracting brands.
SOCi’s LVI Report Reveals How AI Is Rewriting Local Search Visibility
Carrot and Stick
Overall, the correlations are pretty clear. They’re also tight, in that digital fundamentals that define LVI scores move in step with key signals such as real estate decisions. The real-world manifestation of that sequence is that visible brands achieve revenue growth, which many in turn reinvest in expansion.
Practically speaking, this means a few things. For one, it’s a goldmine of market signals for public-market investors looking for an edge. But more importantly, it’s a set of signals for brand execs to benchmark their own performance and see the future. And in that motivational sense, it’s both carrot and stick.
“When that discoverability is missing, the data suggests decline tends to follow,” said Ho. “It’s a signal worth watching long before it shows up on an earnings call.”
Header image credit: Ian Taylor on Unsplash
