Wendy’s announces plans for 140 restaurant closures in the U.S.

Wendy’s will close 140 restaurants in the United States this year, in addition to the 100 planned closures announced by the chain in May, reported The Associated Press. But the fast-food chain also has plans to open hundreds of new locations.
During a press conference last week, Wendy’s President and CEO Kirk Tanner assured that despite closures, the reason for them is to stimulate growth.
Wendy’s “conducted a robust review of individual restaurants to ensure they meet our expectations for sales, have the profitability to fuel growth, and deliver the Wendy’s brand experience for customers,” Tanner said, as reported by CNN. “Overall, Wendy’s system is incredibly healthy.”
The restaurants were chosen to close because their financial performance is “well below the system average,” per CNN.
“They’re just in locations that don’t build our brands,” Tanner said, per AP News. “You look at a brand that’s 55 years old and some of those restaurants are quite out of date.”
A list of the restaurant locations Wendy’s plans to close was not provided, but Tanner noted that closures will spread across the entire country.
“Our focus is on building new restaurants because we know they deliver well over the average of these poor-performing restaurants,” he said, per AP News. “We, overall, want the best restaurants for the customers and that customer experience we want to deliver.”
There are 7,240 Wendy’s restaurants around the globe, per Statista. Just 415 of those restaurants are company-owned, the remaining 6,825 are franchised locations.
A Wendy’s spokesperson confirmed to People that the restaurant “is on track to meet its goal of 250-300 new restaurant openings for the year.”
“As a 55-year-old brand with more than 7,100 restaurants across the globe, closures are a normal activity to maintain a healthy system,” the spokesperson wrote, per People.
In May, Wendy’s announced plans to close a little more than 100 restaurants in the U.S. by the end of the year. Wendy’s CFO Gunther Plosch said the decision was “all with our rhythm in our business,” per Eat This, Not That.
“If we can expand margins by operating more efficiently, driving levels of productivity, those are meaningful partnerships that we are working on with our franchisees,” Tanner said, per Eat This, Not That. “That’s something we’re both in the boat, rowing together on, because we feel that will generate a lot of momentum for our future.”
A new Frosty flavor is coming to Wendy’s for a limited time. A salted caramel Frosty will come to Wendy’s store beginning Tuesday, Nov. 12.
The new flavor is described as a “rich, salty caramel perfectly balanced with Wendy’s iconic sweet & creamy Frosty treat” with “a spoonful of warm & cozy comfort in every chilly bite,” reports Food & Wine Magazine.
The vanilla Frosty and SpongeBob-inspired pineapple-mango Frosty will both be removed from the menu to make room for the new salted caramel flavor. The chocolate Frosty remains a menu staple.