Wegmans named easiest company for customers to work with, Wawa also top performer

Last week the Temkin Group published the 2018 Temkin Effort Ratings, which the company calls the industry's most comprehensive benchmark of customer effort. This measurement shows the degree to which customers view companies as either easy or hard to work with.

The winner? Wegmans Food Markets.

Temlin has proclaimed Wegmans as the "easiest company for customers to work with," with an overall score of 90 percent. Other top performers noted in the study were Subway, Citizens Bank, Ace Hardware, and Wawa Food Markets, all with 89 percent scores. USAA and Publix were close behind at 88 percent.

The worst ratings belong to Spirit Airlines, Medicaid and CarMax.

According to the Temkin Group, supermarkets, fast food chains and retailers earned "excellent" ratings (above 80 percent), while health plans and TV/Internet service providers earned "poor" scores (below 60 percent).

National chain expansion hits five-year high

According to a report issued by RBC Capital Markets, demand for retail space in the U.S. hit a five-year peak at the end of 2012, with nearly 82,000 stores scheduled to open within two years. According to Analyst Rich Moore, many of the chains with expansion plans are national retailers looking to fill small shop spaces in open-air community and power centers.

The reports says that the retailers planning the most new stores are Subway, Dollar General, Five Guys and Family Dollar, in that order.

Starbucks is now the No. 3 U.S. restaurant chain

MSNBC reported today that Starbucks has surpassed Burger King and Wendy's to become the third largest restaurant chain in the U.S., based on domestic sales. McDonald's and Subway are first and second, respectively.

Full disclosure: Equity Retail Brokers represents Starbucks in the Greater Philadelphia market, but there is no direct evidence (just rumors) that this relationship is solely responsible for Starbucks' sales increase or its rise in the restaurant chain rankings.

Starbucks is now No. 3 U.S. restaurant chain