Wendy’s shares jumped more than 14% Wednesday after noted investor Nelson Peltz made an offer to buy the chain, which has been struggling with high beef prices and aging stores.
Peltz’s Trian Fund Management and several partners are offering Wendy’s $7.35 per share in cash, or a premium of nearly 19% over the stock’s closing price on Tuesday, in a deal that would take the company private.
Wendy’s, which is based in Dublin, Ohio, confirmed receipt of the unsolicited proposal in a statement Wednesday and said its board has formed an independent committee to evaluate it. At the end of last year, Wendy’s had 5,969 restaurants in the U.S. and 1,428 outlets in 38 countries.
Wendy’s, founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas and named after his daughter, is known for its square burgers and Frosty desserts. The fast-growing chain introduced the drive-thru window in 1970 and went public in 1976. In the 1980s, as it jockeyed for sales with McDonald’s and Burger King, Wendy’s launched salad bars and ran its iconic “Where’s the beef?” ad campaign.
But as the fast-food market grew even more competitive and rival burger-focused chains like In-N-Out and Five Guys expanded, Wendy’s fell behind. Wendy’s share of U.S. burger chain sales fell from 11.5% in 2019 to 10.4% last year, according to Technomic, a market research company.
The very last time I ate at a Wendy’s, the burger I got was literally full of hair, like dragged across a dirty floor. I immediately complained and sent pics to their complaint department. It took them two months to respond, telling me I’d be contacted by the owner of the restaurant. It took him another month to respond, saying he’d like to meet me in person to apologize. Three months to get a reply… I told him I had no intention of meeting with him, I did not accept his apology, and I would never eat at a Wendy’s again. Moreover, I put the pics up on the review page for their location. They shut down a few months later.
Wendy’s can get fucked.
theres other no-traditional chains that popped here when there wasnt in our state. mcdonalds, BK, wendys is falling the wayside. seen a new jollibee opened up
They owned Tim Hortons once upon a time.
They were crashing and burning since 2002 anyways, just shoot it and put it out of its misery.
Introducing the Never Frozen vegetable protein with a side of beef burgers!
I’m sure a hedge fund won’t cut quality, gut the business, then ultimately declare bankruptcy while laying everyone off or anything…
Its not the high beef prices or aging stores, its just low quality control.
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.
Around here Wendy’s went the way of Burger King, terribly managed, full of uncaring workers.
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.
Wendys went downhill hard in recent years. I used to love their hamburgers more than any other nationwide chain. Now I order a burger from them and it’s dry as fuck and flavorless. And it’s more expensive than a competitor. It got to the point that McDs was even a better option because of the consistency.
Their fries are also unforgivably terrible. Soggy, undercooked, and flaccid piles of starch with potato skin tips that taste like burnt paper.
Really a shame because I grew up going to Wendy’s and had a fond view of the place. The only thing left that is any good is the frosty.
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.
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.
Hmm I find things were pretty good up until around the early years of the 2000s. Once the 2010s rolled around, absolute shit. It may also be that I exposed myself to better burger chains around this time, though, and I simply didn’t know better.
its the 2000s, it was way better when i had it for the first time back then. i would say it got bad when all of them went through shrinklfation in the 2010s.
I am going to go with at least post 2002 as the beginning of the end. After Dave Thomas died. I could imagine various franchises had different levels of effort.
I didn’t eat fast food much, but I had a friend who came to America in the mid 80’s and raved about Wendy’s. I would get dragged along sometimes. They said their experience was very downhill post Dave’s passing.
Yeah one thing Wendys has a problem with is consistency. You go to just about any McDonalds and you don’t expect exceptional food, but it’s consistently close to the same quality no matter which location you go to, in my experience. A Big Mac in Kansas tastes about the same as a Big Mac in Florida.
Wendys has some WILD ass swings in quality, depending on location. Some locations would have fresh, crisp fries and good burgers and some you swore was on the warmer for 3 hours and put together by someone who was drunk. Unfortunately, as time has gone on, there is less of the former and more of the latter.
Trian Fund Managment (Trian Partners) is an “activist investor.” Expect them to disassemble Wendy’s.
IOW, prepare to say goodbye to Wendy’s as we know it.
sounds like PE firm to me.
You mean to say that all the savings from their AI drive-through agents hasn’t helped???
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.
Wendy’s died with Dave Thomas.
I used to frequent a Wendy’s near where I worked at the time. Everything still looked and tasted exactly like it did in the 1980s.
I went there again a week after Dave Thomas died and everything was different. The meat was smaller and tasted different, the fries were overcooked. It was obvious what changed and why.
On the wall next to the registers was a giant poster memorializing Dave and talking about how they would always do things “Dave’s way.” I never went back.
…There is an exception to this. Wendy’s tried a long time ago to open restaurants in Japan and failed. But several years ago they did it again, this time partnering with another existing fast food restaurant called First Kitchen. The participating locations have the genuine Wendy’s logo next to theirs and a lot of the classic menu items including the shakes.
It doesn’t taste like classic Wendy’s, but it tastes way better than what I remember from the last time I ate a Wendy’s in America.
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 visited a KFC in Korea and it was bad.
Granted, American KFC is equally bad (in different ways) but, man, some of the worst fried chicken on the peninsula.
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
Right? And as fast food in general has gone up, the price disadvantage has really dwindled imo. $5 more over $5 is a 100% increase. But when McD’s sits at $15 and Wendy’s is still only $5 more…
Not that I go to either anymore because they’re American and I’m a combatant in a trade war, but the theory was sound. The only Canadian I’m betraying is Galen FUCKING Weston who is philosophically American.
Oh absolutely this too. At this point I think Wendy’s is even cheaper. 12.79 for Big Mac combo, vs 8.99 for Dave single combo (it’s a special, but regular price is 11.09).
Good to hear. I’ve never been in Canada for longer than an afternoon, so I wouldn’t have known. I imagine that, like Japan, the locations there are owned by a local company rather than Wendy’s proper.
Are you American?
I was born there, but I got better.
I feel like I should be allowed to upvote this comment twice. The second one just for the last sentence.
Wendy’s has been tanking in Canada too, Harvey’s is the place to go.
I was on voice chat with an American a awhile back. and I was talking about getting some A&W. He lost his mind. He only thought it was the pop basically. I guess they didnt have any near him. Then I had to tell him that the ones we have and the he has are different. Still gets alittle argo if I bring it up.
I’m so upset there are no A&Ws near me. The food is pretty good (imo on par with Sonic, which has always been consistently good for me), and the drinks are pretty tasty too. Plus the A&W root beer is amazing.
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.
Restaurant chains that don’t farm and ranch their own ingredients should consider saying bye bye. Especially national and international chains.
Bye bye McDonald’s - you overpriced undersized hamburglers.
McD’s is pretty much just a real estate company at this point.
Begun, the franchise wars has.
Gotta get to my local Taco Bell
Wendy’s lost me when they stopped giving a tiny cup of melted cheese for your fries upon request. Last time I went, they wanted 75¢ for a half filled ketchup cup of cheese. Nickel and dimed themselves to death.
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…
Oh how the turntables…
