{"id":2186,"date":"2025-11-09T02:09:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T02:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=2186"},"modified":"2025-11-09T02:09:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T02:09:46","slug":"wendys-to-close-hundreds-of-u-s-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=2186","title":{"rendered":"Wendy\u2019s to close hundreds of U.S. restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can find original article here\u00a0Nrn. Subscribe to our free daily\u00a0Nrn newsletters.<\/p>\n

Wendy\u2019s reported its third quarter earnings results Friday morning \u2014 its first report since introducing its\u00a0Project Fresh turnaround plan in October\u00a0\u2014 and though executives sounded optimistic about the chain\u2019s progress so far, it\u2019s clear they have their work cut out for them.<\/p>\n

Wendy\u2019s domestic same-store sales fell by 4.7% in Q3. This is compared to its quick-service burger peers McDonald\u2019s, which was up 2.4%, and Burger King, which was up 3.2%. Wendy\u2019s cited commodity and labor inflation, as well as a decline in traffic for the tough quarter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n

During the company\u2019s earnings call Friday morning, interim chief executive officer Ken Cook said the company is \u201cacting with urgency\u201d to return the domestic system back to comp sales growth. He added that the Project Fresh initiatives have so far bolstered performance at company-operated restaurants, \u201csignificantly outperforming\u201d the overall system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n

During the quarter, Wendy\u2019s shifted its capital focus on growing average unit volumes over net unit growth in the U.S. system. The company reduced its growth capital by approximately $20 million from the outlook shared in the beginning of the year. Notably, AUVs in 2024 were just over $2 million, according to Technomic data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n

To support its turnaround, Wendy\u2019s is leveraging former Yum Brands\u2019 CEO Greg Creed\u2019s consulting firm to strengthen its brand positioning and enhance marketing effectiveness. In October, the company launched a \u201cneeds-based customer segmentation study,\u201d aimed at understanding what drives consumer purchases. The study is also expected to help Wendy\u2019s refine how it communicates value. Earlier this year, Wendy\u2019s executives admitted the company was pushing out too many promotions and confusing its customers. &nbsp;<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have visibility to how consumers behave both inside the system and with the competition, which will enable us to focus our media efforts on high value audiences and allow us to adapt quickly to shifts in consumer behaviors,\u201d Cook said. \u201cWe\u2019re segmenting consumers to make sure we have the most relevant segmentations to drive growth. Then we get into relevance, easy, and distinctive(ness), and the culmination is a brand essence.\u201d<\/p>\n

What that essence translates to is, \u201csales overnight and brand over time.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we look back at what we’ve been focused on in the U.S. over the past few years, we’ve focused on sales overnight and not enough on brand over time,\u201d Cook said. \u201cWe have some work to do to reestablish Wendy’s as a leader in quality and freshness in the industry, and by doing that, we’re confident we’re going to drive AUVs higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendy\u2019s is also sharpening its focus on operations and has ramped up its investments in training to improve customer experiences, which Cook said has driven \u201cmeasurable results\u201d so far at company-operated restaurants.&nbsp;<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Wendy\u2019s earnings call is its \u201csystem optimization\u201d pillar, which Cook described as \u201chaving the right restaurant footprint to maximize profitability.\u201d Wendy\u2019s is evaluating every underperforming restaurant in its domestic system from \u201cboth a financial and a customer experience\u201d perspective. Some of those restaurants could improve from technology deployment or productivity enhancements, while others are expected to close. Wendy\u2019s expects its system assessment to be completed over the next several months, with \u201csome closures\u201d beginning later this year and into 2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n

Cook estimates the number of closures to be \u201caround mid-single digit,\u201d which equates to about 200 to 300 restaurants.&nbsp;<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re talking about net unit development. Gross unit development is still on track,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is about taking a long-term view, looking forward, and asking ourselves, \u2018Three years from today, what decisions do we wish we would have made?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also about improving restaurant-level economics, he added. By optimizing the system and focusing on stronger restaurants, customer experience should improve, \u201cwhich is ultimately going to result in more demand,\u201d Cook said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n

Wendy\u2019s Q3 by the numbers&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n