Fast food chains in Chicago, by city inspection records
See how often routine city inspections ended in a Fail at each fast food chain’s Chicago restaurants, next to the rate for every restaurant in the city. Chicago’s inspections are spread thinly over a lot of restaurants, so the ranges here are wide.
The short answer
Nine of the 14 chains came in under the local rate.
- 9under the local rate
- 5too close to call
- 0over the local rate
The local rate is the tall line in the chart below. Across all restaurants in Chicago, 24.4% of routine inspections ended in a Fail.
Chain by chain
Each bar is the range a chain’s real rate probably falls in: the fewer inspections, the wider the bar. The short tick is the rate we measured. Bars that overlap are too close to call, so rows run from the lowest measured rate to the highest for reading only.
- Under the local rate
- Too close to call
- Over the local rate
Why the chains are not numbered first to last. The lowest rate on file is Panda Express at 7.2% and the highest is Popeyes at 29.8%. Those two really are apart: their ranges do not touch. But only 4 of the 14 chains can be told apart from the chain in the middle of the list. The rest are too close to it to call.
15 more chains with too few inspections to chart
A chain needs 100 routine inspections on file here before it gets a bar. These have fewer: Chick-fil-A (56), Jersey Mike's (54), Little Caesars (52), White Castle (49), Panera (48), Pizza Hut (36), Papa John's (30), Checkers (24), Culver's (21), Shake Shack (20), Arby's (19), Five Guys (19), Dairy Queen (11), Raising Cane's (9), Sonic (2).
What stands out
Wide bars are the main finding. 9 of the 14 chains on the chart have fewer than 250 routine inspections on file, even with records going back to 2019. A range of ten points or more is common. Treat any two chains whose bars overlap as tied, because on this evidence they are.
The two ends are the only clear contrast. Panda Express has the lowest rate, 7.2% (3.7% to 13.6%), and Popeyes the highest, 29.8% (23.3% to 37.3%). Those ranges do not touch.
Five chains are level with the city. Wingstop, Domino's, Jimmy John's, KFC and Popeyes have ranges that include the 24.4% rate for all Chicago restaurants, so we cannot say they fail more or less often than an ordinary restaurant here. KFC and Popeyes have rates above the city’s, but with this few inspections a gap that small could easily be chance. No chain is clearly over.
Subway is the one chain with plenty of inspections. With 1,415 inspections it has the narrowest range in the city, 14.6% to 18.4%. It is the one Chicago figure precise enough to read closely.
The window includes the pandemic. The city ran 5,887 routine restaurant inspections in 2019, then 3,926 in 2020 and 4,308 in 2021. We kept those years because dropping them would leave even fewer chains chartable, but the restaurants inspected then were not a typical mix.
Written September 2026. The figures in it are read from the current records, so they move when the records do.
How inspections work in Chicago
Chicago restaurants are inspected by the Department of Public Health’s Food Protection Program. Each establishment is placed in a risk category from 1 (highest) to 3, and the department says the frequency of inspection is tied to that risk. The routine visit is called a canvass inspection.
An inspection ends in one of three results. In the department’s words, a Pass means “no critical or serious violations”; a Pass with Conditions means such violations were found “but these were corrected during the inspection”; and a Fail means “critical or serious violations that were not correctable during the inspection.” It adds that a Fail “does not necessarily mean the establishment’s licensed is suspended.” This page counts Fails. A Pass with Conditions counts as not failing.
The city changed its food inspection procedures on July 1, 2018, and flags on the dataset that the change affects the data. To stay on one side of that line, our records start on January 1, 2019, the first full year under the current rules. The city also warns that its file may contain duplicate reports; we count each inspection ID once.
What this can’t tell you
- Who runs the better kitchen. Chains handle different food. A coffee counter deals with far less raw food than a kitchen that fries chicken, so part of any gap between chains is the menu.
- Anything about one restaurant. A figure sums up that chain’s locations in Chicago over this period. It is not a statement about the brand elsewhere and not a warning about the one near you.
- Whether every restaurant got equal attention. Inspections are scheduled by risk and by past results, so a restaurant with problems is visited more often and shows up more often in these counts. That holds for chains and for all restaurants alike.
- How Chicago compares with anywhere else. Each place counts a different thing under different rules. These figures only make sense next to other figures from Chicago.
How we counted
- Source. CDPH Food Inspections, published by the Chicago Department of Public Health. Pulled October 2, 2026.
- What counts. Only canvass (routine) inspections of restaurants; re-inspections, complaint and license visits are left out. Inspectors go back to restaurants that already had a problem, so counting return visits would stack the numbers.
- The figure. For each chain, the number of those inspections that ended in a Fail, divided by all of them. “All restaurants” is the same sum over everything in the file, chains included.
- The range. A 95% Wilson score interval. If we could rerun the same period many times, the true rate would land inside a range built this way about 19 times in 20. Fewer inspections means a wider range.
- The minimum. A chain needs 100 counted inspections to be charted. Below that it is listed with its count and no bar.
- Matching names to chains. Restaurant names are matched to chains with a published table of name patterns (version 2026-09-20.4). A location recorded under two chain names, such as a combined KFC and Taco Bell, is counted for neither. If a match is wrong, write to hello@fastfoodfact.com and it will be corrected.
- Reuse. Provided as is under the City of Chicago's Data Terms of Use, which require the notice below wherever the data is used.
The full method, including the formula for the range, is on the methodology page.
Inspection types, risk categories and result definitions: CDPH, Food Inspections dataset description. The July 2018 change and the duplicates warning are stated on the dataset’s page. We count inspections typed “Canvass” at facilities typed “Restaurant”, with a result of Pass, Pass with Conditions or Fail; visits recorded as out of business, no entry or not ready are left out.
This site provides applications using data that has been modified for use from its original source, www.cityofchicago.org, the official website of the City of Chicago. The City of Chicago makes no claims as to the content, accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of any of the data provided at this site. The data provided at this site is subject to change at any time. It is understood that the data provided at this site is being used at one’s own risk.
Informational only. These are public records, summarized; they are not a safety rating of any restaurant and not professional advice. Last reviewed: September 2026.
Quote or download these figures
You may quote any figure on this page. Please credit FastFoodFact with a link, keep the count and the range with the rate, and don’t set a figure from one place against a figure from another: each place counts a different thing.
FastFoodFact, "Fast food chains in Chicago." Counted from CDPH Food Inspections, Chicago Department of Public Health; routine inspections January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2026, pulled October 2, 2026. https://www.fastfoodfact.com/chicago
The counts as a file: CSV or JSON. Each file covers one place and names its source.
Frequently asked questions
What does it mean to fail a food inspection in Chicago?
According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, an establishment receives a Fail when the inspector finds critical or serious violations that were not correctable during the inspection. The department adds that a Fail does not necessarily mean the establishment's license is suspended. A Pass with Conditions means such violations were found but corrected during the inspection.
What is a canvass inspection?
Canvass is Chicago's name for its routine inspection: the most common type, performed at a frequency tied to the establishment's risk category. This page counts canvass inspections of restaurants only, and leaves out re-inspections, complaint inspections, license inspections and suspected food-poisoning inspections.
How often do restaurants fail inspections in Chicago?
In these records, 24.4% of 39,049 canvass inspections of Chicago restaurants ended in a Fail. That is the rate every chain on this page is compared with.
Which fast food chain fails the fewest inspections in Chicago?
The lowest rate on file is Panda Express: 7.2% of its 111 canvass inspections ended in a Fail, with a likely range of 3.7% to 13.6%. Chicago chains have few inspections each, so the ranges are wide and mostly overlap, and this site does not number them first to last. The figure describes that chain's Chicago locations over this period, not any single restaurant.
The guide to these records
- What a Failed Food Inspection in Chicago Actually Means
Chicago inspectors record a Pass, a Pass with Conditions, or a Fail. What separates them, how often a restaurant is visited, what happens after a Fail, and why the city warns against reading its data across July 2018.
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