According to R&I's Consumers' Choice in Chains, food quality is the most important attribute that drives customers' decisions on where to eat.

It's no surprise that food quality is the most important attribute to customers when deciding where to eat out. On a scale of 1 to 5, it receives a 4.42. Cleanliness is next on the list at 4.28, followed by value (4.22), service (4.12), menu variety (3.99), convenience (3.96), reputation (3.87) and atmosphere (3.67).

Over time, the importance of many of the attributes has grown. The only attributes that have remained constant over the past five years are food quality and cleanliness. The most significant change is in value: in 2004 it rated 4.12; in 2008 it increased to 4.22.

Women place greater stock on all of the attributes than men, though both sexes' top attributes are the same: food quality, cleanliness and value. But their choice of top chains for serving those attributes are not the same. Women's top chain for food quality was The Cheesecake Factory; for cleanliness, Dave & Buster's; and for value, In-N-Out Burger. Men chose Carrabba's Italian Grill for food quality and cleanliness, and Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake Pizza for value.

All of the age groups name food quality as their top priority. Gen Y, those 26 and under, tend to stress menu variety, reputation and atmosphere less so than cleanliness, value and service. Gen Y's top rankings went to The Cheesecake Factory in the menu variety category, In-N-Out Burger for reputation, and Carrabba's for atmosphere.

Matures, those 61 and older, are mostly concerned with food quality and cleanliness, scoring McAlister's Deli the best in food quality and Culver's tops in cleanliness.