No QSR brand holds more than 13.8% of the AI shelf.

ARA put 16 buyer questions to four AI models. The models made 326 choices and named 68 restaurant brands. The largest single holding is 45 choices. That is 13.8% of the shelf.

The AI Shelf — audited brands in colour, every other brand in a stepped grey.

A buyer who asks an AI model where to eat gets a wide field. No brand is the default answer. The 15 brands ARA measured hold 58.6% of the choices together.

TOP LEARNING 01

Forty of the 68 named brands hold 14% of the shelf between them.

The models name 35 brands exactly once. Those brands hold 11% of all choices. The models name 5 more brands exactly twice, for another 3%. One mention puts a brand on the shelf. One mention does not make that brand a repeat answer.

TOP LEARNING 02

In-N-Out Burger takes 18 choices and sits outside the measured set.

In-N-Out Burger leads the brands ARA does not track. Culver's takes 12 choices. Jersey Mike's takes 9. Starbucks takes 7. Raising Cane's and Whataburger take 6 each. Five Guys and Panera Bread take 5 each. These names hold ground that no measured brand holds.

TOP LEARNING 03

The models never name Jack in the Box or Sonic.

Across all 326 choices, no answer names Jack in the Box. No answer names Sonic. The models do not rank these two brands low. The models do not name them at any position. Absence is the accurate word.