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.
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.
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.
their decline started around the time they quit bussing tables and diners had to do it like most everywhere else.
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.
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.
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.
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.