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Bob Wright isn’t sugarcoating what went wrong at Wendy’s, and now he’s laying out exactly how he plans to fix it.
He’s already blamed “quality degradation” for costing Wendy’s its No. 2 spot among America’s biggest burger chains behind Burger King. Wright recently detailed his five-point turnaround plan in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Food quality and value. Wright says the menu needs rebuilding “at the ingredient level, at the item level, at the menu-category level,” starting with burgers, chicken, salads and Frosty desserts. Operations. “We certainly have inconsistent operations,” Wright admitted. “We have some areas that we can focus on there.” Store upgrades. Wendy’s has closed more restaurants than it’s opened over the past year, and Wright says he’ll keep using closures strategically to help franchisees stabilize underperforming locations, while still building new units. Marketing. The most visible move so far: hiring Tariq Hassan, a former McDonald’s executive, into a newly created chief marketing and customer growth officer role. Wendy’s current U.S. marketing chief is departing in the coming weeks. Discounts. Wright says the company is also re-evaluating its heavy reliance on discounts and promotions, aiming to shift focus back to delivering value through the core menu itself.
Wright is also navigating a delicate relationship with activist investor Trian Fund Management, which has discussed the possibility of taking Wendy’s private.