Brand is already dying anyways. I'm not sure what their place is in the current world; they don't have the same kid appeal as McD or BK. They used to market the burgers but there's newer chains with better fast food burgers now. I guess they're still notable for chili and frosties? I don't have high hopes for a hedge fund turning things around, but I think they do need to overhaul their image and find something to market that other fast food doesn't do better.

Yeah it was probably me buying their $5 biggie bag and never anything else that put them in dire straights. Definitely wasn't the AI stuff.

They lost their way when they got rid of the solariums.

pretzel bun to the menu.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Daves single with 3 slices of bacon, fucking perfect on the pretzel bun.

Wendy’s used to be a comfort food for me, and now I don’t even go. They were fine until they started messing with the fries, but they also started trying too hard with limited time products and the new frosty things.

My main complaint about Wendy's is the church crowd, go there around noon on a Sunday and you'll see an extremely specific demographic

Fucking Taco Bell is pulling that shit too. Some locations charge for onions now and although it's a better formula than the old Verde sauce, it's bullshit that it's now 20-25¢ per packet. I like to use 2-3 sauces per item, so it gets pricy quick. At least the hot sauces are still free...for now...

Are you American?

Wendy’s is pretty damn good in Canada. Similar tier as A&W, and a clear step above McDonald’s and Burger King

Overseas versions of domestic chains often seem to be better, presumably because people there wouldn't put up with substandard fare or to make market entry easier.

KFC in Asia is pretty good. Pizza Hut locations are actually a decent dining experience as well.

An exception to this would be the Tim Hortons stores they tried to open in Korea. Just as meh as here - maybe with less hobo BO in the corner table - and you could get better, fresher options within a block for the same price or better.

I wish we'd get real Wendy's back with the old recipes, but fakkin Wendy's wasn't the worst I had. No frosty though

All of them went down in quality, I feel like Wendy's is still one of the best, even with the downgrades.

Wendy's locations are a TON of variability. Within the same town you can find a Wendy's that is stellar and a Wendy's that sucks to the point that it barely makes sense that they are the same restaurant chain. You're right about the serving sizes and such going down. I am sure they'd have been forced to do that eventually if Dave was still around, but he would have likely pushed back hard to prevent it as much as he could.

I was just in Japan and tried Wendy's there and had what was the most disgusting burger I've ever eaten in my life (the truffle and mozzarella baconator). Not only could I or anyone else in my group eat more than a few bites, but it also made me nauseous and vomit a few hours later when we got back to our AirBnB.

sounds like PE firm to me.

Recent years? I don't think they have been any good since the late 80's. Maybe as late as the mid nineties. After that: garbageville. That continued the decline.

thier burgers downsized. had wendies for the first time in early 2000s, definitely a more "restuarant experience. now its just a mcdonalds clone. people i know still buy from there occasionaly, usually they buy coffee too.

When was the last time you saw a fast food worker give a shit? I'd assume plenty of them or foreign workers who can't get a real job with whatever actual qualifications they have...I wouldn't care either

BK was the worst inner city,the employees dont know how to do the orders properly, so they made a customer pissed off enough to be belligerent towards them. surprise they closed down shortly before/early covid. carls jr is still here, and jollibee just had a new opening. and in a mall, several new chains not native our area just opened up shop, so more variety now. for a long time it was mostly mcdonalds only.

plus customers are turning to (even if they are paying more) better quality chains that is still fast food, and or becoming health consciouss, plus people are ordering from delivery too. plus all the boba/milk tea shops that has opened up. which was the crazy in 2000s but died down in 2010s, then came back recently.

McD's is pretty much just a real estate company at this point.

Restaurant chains that don’t farm and ranch their own ingredients should consider saying bye bye. Especially national and international chains.

I don't think there's a single chain restaurant that is this vertically integrated. The farm-to-table shtick doesn't scale well to "a hundred thousand acres of wheat for buns". It works for bougie seasonal-produce, rotating-menu type places that can afford to be open 12 hours a week, 12 weeks a year.

When I'm in a rush I unironically go to BK because there's never a line in my town. And I don't understand why, it's pretty good! Comparatively, anyway.

Gotta get to my local Taco Bell

When do prices ever come back down? They learned people will pay scam prices so they will keep scamming regardless of what the beef market does.

Mmm, beef dip