Press X To Doubt: Reddit Has Thoughts About Wendy’s Changes

Like Burger King and McDonald’s, Wendy’s has done a little upper management shaking up of late. And, like the King and McD’s, Wendy’s corporate is joining the “mea culpa, let’s make it better” parade. (We have yet to see if part of Wendy’s new act will also include a weird clip of the CEO eating a burger.) 

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Unlike Burger King and McDonald’s, however, whose respective “Reclaim the Flame” and “McDonald’s > NEXT” campaigns beat Wendy’s to the corporate self-reflection, Wendy’s has a serious financial hole to dig itself out of. After financially tanking for six quarters in a row, it’s now third in America’s Big Three burger chains (behind second place BK and perennial first place McD’s). Maybe that’s why their new CEO just made some big public promises via The Wall Street Journal. And yes, they’re strongly, if awkwardly, worded, but Reddit (and the rest of us) kind of already have our doubts… 

Promises, Delicious, Weird Promises

It all sounds very robust at first. In an exclusive interview, newly appointed CEO Bob Wright told The WSJ Wendy’s will address five specific areas where the pigtailed chain lost its way: food quality and value, operations, store upgrades, marketing, and digital sales. (Which, if we’re not mistaken, sounds like the entire business?) As Wright told The Journal (not to mention franchisees and shareholders), Wendy’s is sorta guilty of that sneaky, oh-so-common corporate math whereby product quality is sacrificed for, you guessed it, corporate savings (with “deals” peppered in to briefly lure customers back). 

This, by the way, is a ninja-level corporate vagueness. Wright barely flirts with responsibility: “We have made some decisions around quality that were rooted in efficiency and cost savings.” That’s like saying “Regrettably, I made some decisions around a sword that were rooted in chopping things.” And then I tell you about my five-point plan to help you find your fingers. 

Yeah… Reddit Ain’t Havin’ It

CEOs tend to talk like the results of such time-honored, quality-minimizing equations are somehow… unforeseen. What I enjoy most―and what inspires the most doubt―is when Wright actually says: “We have let our value equation erode.” I know CEOs are granted some social grace with nonsense speak, but this does not call to mind any of the nostalgic warmth of, say, Dave Thomas. (Truly, I’d almost rather he’d make like other fast food CEOs and awkwardly try to work a shift…)

Thankfully, Reddit almost immediately pounced on Wright’s comments and the Wendy’s shallow apology of it all. Per one succinct commenter, “Yeah, we’ve noticed.” Another, also poetically concise, notes “Dave would kick this guy’s…” (you get it). A few offer a basic parlay: bring back the old spicy chicken, we’ll talk. Others aren’t at all forgiving: “The cost cutting should bankrupt them and serve as a warning that providing a shoddy product kills businesses.” 

In fact, most of what you’ll see on Reddit isn’t just a (reasonable) yearning for old school Wendy’s and/or some casual conjuring of Dave Thomas’s vengeful ghost―it’s incisive corporate criticism (which just happens to sometimes be funny or profane). You can scroll the subreddits for yourself, but frankly we get the frustration. We’ll believe it when we see it.