When I was younger, I could have told you who the No. 1 fast food restaurant mascot was, and I don’t think anyone would have disagreed. Now it’s a whole different story, because the new No. 1 fast food restaurant mascot is not Ronald McDonald, but can be found in virtually every part of Illinois, with 148 restaurants.

If you look at the new fast food mascot rankings just released by Study Finds, you’ll probably be surprised too. That’s not their opinion, by the way. According to their methodology, they compiled rankings from 10 so-called “expert review sites.”

If it is not Ronald McDonald, then who is the number one mascot of the fast food industry? They say it is Colonel Sanders from KFC.

I knew there were many KFC locations in Illinois, but had no idea that the official website says There are a whopping (no Burger King pun intended) 148.

I think there’s a lot of nostalgia for the original Colonel Sanders. The younger generation seems to like the newer comedian impersonations more than I do. I still find it very surprising that Ronald McDonald didn’t end up at the top of the fast food mascot podium. How the mighty have fallen, but he’s still number 2, which isn’t so bad.