A new study ranks fast food joints, and the furniture store takes second place







An IKEA store in Wallau, Germany / Reuters

German newspaper Die Welt reports today that, in a study by the German Institute for Service Quality based out of Hamburg, Ikea comes ahead of McDonald's in the fast food realm. That's right: a European furniture store is beating American chains in the traditionally American realm of quick bites.

Inspectors apparently visited fast food joints ten times between July and September 2011, and in the resulting ranking of points (one to 100), Mövenpick Marché is at the top, with 78.7 points. Hard on the heels comes Ikea at 77.6, and, after a jump, McDonald's at 72.8 and Burger King at 70.0. Also rated are KFC, the fish option Nordsee, and even Subway.

What are these European top picks doing right? "Diversity of offerings, quality and freshness of food, and good service" are mentioned by the testers with regards to Marché, the Welt writeup notes. "Ikea as runner-up had only one problem with the 'activity level' of the staff." Tough crowd. Apparently McDonald's scored high on "quality of communication" though.

But here's the real question: why is a furniture store doing food so well? The answer might lie in the bizarre world of furniture company competition for German consumers. According to September story by the Deutsche Press-Agentur, a German news agency, breakfast at furniture stores is all the rage.