Wendy's Closing Hundreds of Restaurants? Good Riddance, I Say
Wendy's is closing hundreds of stores nationwide. Hundreds! And honestly, my first thought? Good. Freaking. Riddance.
The Era of Mediocre Fast Food Ends... Maybe
I saw the headlines, same as everyone else: Wendy's is planning to shutter a "mid single-digit percentage" of its US locations. Okay, fine, let's translate that corporate BS. They have about 6,000 restaurants, so we're talking somewhere between 240 and 360 locations biting the dust. Wendy's Is Closing Hundreds of Restaurants That Are a 'Dr...
Why? Because, according to Interim CEO Ken Cook, some of these locations "do not elevate the brand and are a drag from a franchisee financial performance perspective."
Oh, really? You mean some of your restaurants are garbage and losing money? Groundbreaking analysis, Ken.
But here's the thing that gets me riled up: they're blaming it on underperforming locations. As if the problem is just a few bad apples and not, say, the entire damn orchard being diseased.
I mean, let's be real, when was the last time you went to a Wendy's and thought, "Wow, this is an elevated dining experience?" It's fast food. It's supposed to be quick, cheap, and vaguely edible. "Elevating the brand" sounds like code for "charging more for the same mediocre crap."
And don't even get me started on "Project Fresh." Highest quality ingredients? Applewood Smoked Bacon? Barrel-Breaded Chicken Tenders? Give me a break. It's still Wendy's. It's still going to be slapped together by some poor soul making minimum wage who probably hates their job.
International Expansion: Because America Is Too Smart to Fall for This?
So, what's Wendy's brilliant plan? Close stores in the US and expand internationally. They've signed deals for over 320 international restaurants this year, including 50 in Central Mexico.
Are they seriously thinking they can pull one over on the rest of the world while Americans are finally waking up? Maybe. Or maybe there's a huge untapped market of people who haven't yet realized that there are better options than a soggy burger and lukewarm fries.
"Across the globe, Wendy’s continues to resonate well with our customers as we execute our globally great, locally even better approach," Ken Cook also said.
Globally great, locally even better approach? What does that even MEAN? It sounds like something a robot programmed to spout corporate jargon would say.
And get this: Wendy's already closed 140 stores in 2024. So, they're basically admitting that their business model is failing. Instead of fixing the core issues – like, I don't know, maybe offering food that people actually want to eat – they're just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Meanwhile, they're patting themselves on the back for a 9% growth overseas. Good for them. Maybe they should just pack up and move their headquarters to Mexico.
Dave Thomas: The Only Good Thing About Wendy's
The only thing I'll say in Wendy's defense is that their founder, Dave Thomas, seemed like a decent guy. Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, adopted as a baby, and a big advocate for adoption himself. He even named the restaurant after his daughter, Wendy.
He was also in a ton of commercials, more than any other company founder, apparantly.
But Dave Thomas is gone. He died in 2002. And whatever magic he brought to the brand is long gone too. Now, it's just another soulless corporation trying to squeeze every last penny out of its customers while offering a product that's barely worth eating.
So, What's the Real Story?
Wendy's is dying a slow, painful death, and they're too arrogant to see it. They're blaming underperforming locations, but the real problem is the entire brand is underperforming. They're expanding internationally, but that's just a desperate attempt to find new suckers. And "Project Fresh" is nothing more than a marketing ploy to distract you from the fact that their food still sucks.
