Muffin Break serves up coffee and doughnut satisfaction, as Starbucks’ approval surges: Roy Morgan

Muffin Break has been ranked as the number one chain store for coffee and doughnut customer satisfaction in Australia, despite seeing its rating decline year-on-year, while Starbucks’ satisfaction has surged, according to Roy Morgan Research.

Muffin Break took out the top spot with a customer satisfaction rating of 87.3% in September, ahead of Donut King (86.3%) and Gloria Jean’s Coffees (83%), Roy Morgan found.

Both Muffin Break (down 3.3% points) and Donut King (down 0.7% points) recorded year-on-year declines, with Gloria Jean’s recording a slight rise, up 0.3% points.

Meanwhile, in fourth place, Starbucks (81.5%) recorded a 9.1% points rise in customer satisfaction year-on-year, overtaking fifth-placed The Coffee Club (80.1%), which posted a 0.3% increase.

The rankings are taken from Roy Morgan surveys of close to 15,000 Australians aged 14 years and older, who were surveyed between October 2016 and September 2017.

“Starbucks’ resurgence has come after the chain went through a tough period nearly a decade ago when it closed more than 60 stores and significantly scaled down its Australian presence during the global financial crisis in 2008,” Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said in a statement.

“Although Starbucks never left, it is only over the past 18 months the well-known American brand has begun a new expansion drive in an effort to win over Australian coffee drinkers — a huge market when one considers 11.8 million Australians (59.2%) visited a cafe for coffee or tea in the last three months.”

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