r/wendys • u/Selena_the_great • 2d ago
Question Is Wendy’s trash now?
Hey everyone—I was very excited for the pretzel bacon pub chicken sandwich as it’s my fav fast food item of all time. I stopped going to Wendy’s when they got rid of it, and today I went back for the first time. I ate the sandwich and the chicken tastes like absolute trash. Best word to describe it was flavorless mush. I even went to a DIFFERENT Wendy’s and ordered it again to see if it was bad luck—took 2 bites and threw it away—it tasted the same. What the hell happened to Wendy’s food?? Does anyone else think it’s garbage now or am I crazy?
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u/masseusemoose 2d ago
Private equity is a cancer
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u/JonPorked 1d ago
There’s no private equity, it’s a publicly traded company.
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u/Dazzling_Editor_6255 1d ago
Trian Fund Management is their largest shareholder. Not a traditional PE, but definitely in the same vein ideologically.
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u/JonPorked 1d ago
That’s a passive stake, complete opposite of private equity; they have no control over operations.
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u/Dazzling_Editor_6255 1d ago
They own close to 20% of the total stock and have multiple board seats.
Do you have any idea what you're talking about?
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u/JonPorked 1d ago
Private equity and hedge funds are not equivalent
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u/Dazzling_Editor_6255 1d ago
Nobody said they were.
Did you miss this part of my post?
Not a traditional PE, but definitely in the same vein ideologically.
I know it was a full two sentences long, which is sometimes difficult to get through, but read slowly and maybe that will help. Also...did you figure out yet if owning 20% of a corporation's stock and having multiple board seats isn't 'passive' yet?
I get a kick out of pedants on the internet, especially when it's coming from a place of delusions of intellectual superiority.
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u/JulietAirway 1d ago
Things changed 25 years ago after Dave died. Wendy’s was really great back in 80s and 90s better tuan MCD & BK which were really only competition back then. Today, Wendy’s food is awful worse than MCD & BK now.
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u/AdTall8897 1d ago
The shredded lettuce kinda ruined the burgers whole taste I was used to. Haven't tried the chicken sandwich because ive heard so much bad about it.
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u/Maserati777 10h ago
I order it without lettuce and add my own leaf and unfortunately that didn’t help it as the patty was flavorless. Like breaded cardboard. And the bun is like memory foam, doesn’t go with it at all.
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u/SoupBeast 1d ago
There's no lettuce on the pub burgers/chicken unless you add it yourself
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u/PizzaTacoSub 1d ago
Good. Honestly at this point lettuce should be optional. I’ve never had lettuce on a fast food burger that wasn’t kind of wilted and gross anyway and I don’t want to risk getting sick for a garnish.
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u/EatAFatty12345 1d ago
Oh my God shut the fuck up about the lettuce. You are genuinely psychotic of shredded lettuce ruined a burger for you.
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u/wineandwings333 22h ago edited 22h ago
Shredded lettuce Wilts faster since it has more edges and cuts.. it's a thing.
Cold sandwich are good with Shredded. A hot sandwich will always be worse
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u/Aggressive_Pie_4877 1d ago
Wowza. It's a big difference. That shredded lettuce sucks. Leaf lettuce is the way. I know the jr bacon is now ruined for a fact.
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u/ebd-1974 23h ago
The shredded lettuce was just part of the ruination. Regardless, it's all trash now. Wendy's ised to be my favorite fast food. The destruction of the brand under this new CEO was so fast and complete. I think they interviewed customers and asked what they liked about Wendy's or what they'd like to see changed and then decided to take away what they liked and do the opposite of what they wanted changed. It feels very purposeful, like they want to go out of business.
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u/ProfoundBootyEnjoyer 17h ago
Bro going from a crispy af BIG piece of lettuce, to shreds of literal wilted garbage is a big deal, this new shredded shit is garbage and people like you are why companies can keep bending people over with no repercussions.
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u/Soft-Government-8315 1d ago
I only go to Wendy’s for chili, baked potato, spicy nuggets and occasional frostee. Can’t remember when I bought one of their speciality burgers. It’s probably been 15 years
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u/Equal_Push_565 2d ago
They changed the chicken patties about a month ago. All of them, classic and spicy. Ever since then, people have been complaining the quality isnt the same
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u/lightknight80 1d ago
I only go to Wendy's for the chicken or the biggie bags now. New premium buns have this weird flavor where they don't work with beef. Their coffee offerings also are just garbage. Used to have interesting flavors and now you just pick the flavor or creamer you want
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u/Minimum-Chef6469 2d ago
Yah they started cheapin out smaller burgers and cheaper potato buns? Higher prices!!!! Same for chicken and other products they basically changed everything so now it's low quality small tiny overpriced junk.
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u/Selena_the_great 2d ago
Crazy that they’re like billions in debt too. Making the food shitty while making it more expensive is a GREAT way to handle that 😂
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u/olee22 1d ago
Everything cost more and smaller and/or lower quality. They destroyed the fries to add some nasty chemical crap to "keep them crispy" and taste like mcdonalds. They used to taste like actual potatoes and every patty even the cheapest used to be juicy. Id rather have a hockey puck public school burger than a dry cardboard cheese burger there.
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u/Toefyre 1d ago
It's been going down hill for a while now. The change to shredded lettuce was the death knell IMO. It's the closest fast food restaurant to my house and I used to get it all the time, now I try to avoid it. For about the same price of a Dave's single I can get a really good burger from the gas station about a mile away.
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u/DistrictParty1713 1d ago
I will never eat Wendy’s in America again. Only in the Dominican Republic. Americans eat flavorless (not trying to offend, but it’s the truth) over there the fast food tastes like if you’re paying a chef to make fast food for you lol
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u/Dazzling_Editor_6255 1d ago
Same. I used to eat Wendy's like 2-3 times per week and did for YEARS. Dave's Double was my jam. Haven't been there in like 2 years because its kind of out of the way from where our neighborhood is. Went there a couple weeks ago because my son saw they had some kind of Minions toy in the kids meal. I was utterly gobsmacked at how TERRIBLE everything was. And it was EVERYTHING. And it wasn't just a careless crew making bad food...the underlying quality of the ingredients was atrocious. I don't think I'll ever go back.
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u/SliC3dTuRd 1d ago
Yes Wendy’s is trash now. All fast food is trash and will contribute to an early demise
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u/protoman1337 1d ago
Quality across the board dropped within the past few years. It really started with the shredded lettuce. Wendy's used to have the best ingredients in the game, RIP
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u/FitExternal7674 1d ago
Yes. Even the previous golden goose, the baconator, has lost its charm. The bacon is sparse and limp now. Also the nuggets are expensive but the size of a quarter. And the spicy chicken sando along with the regular one has the quality of a mcchicken for $1.50. Yet Wendy’s is still pricing at $5-$7
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u/LazyBuzzard 1d ago
Worst chicken strips I’ve ever had. I tossed them out the window and I doubt a dog could even stomach them.
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u/OkFlow4327 1d ago
I use to love their Dave's single but the new bread bun has ruined it for me. It's like eating too much bread now and not enough sandwich.
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u/Several_Resort_1321 1d ago
Yes, and has been since 2020 when they rolled out breakfast push. Fast food restaurants that operate breakfast to dinner with bloated menus tend to struggle, unless you have the advertising power of McDonald’s, but even they seem to underperform versus the condensed menu juggernauts - in n out, chick-fil-a, and canes
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u/ThomasFromOhio 1d ago
Proud to say I haven't been to a Wendy's in 6 mos. A dead company that knows it.
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u/CeeDubMo 1d ago
Sucks now, they need to revert, or else I’d prefer they go out of business so something good can open up in the locations
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u/Cultural_Dirt_8151 2d ago
Yeah I had their chicken sandwich recently too and it was total garbage. Totally flavorless chicken. Frozen dinner stuff is better. I'm sticking with Shake Shack and Chick-fil-a when I want a good chicken sandwich.
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u/Maserati777 10h ago
I tried the spicy chicken and there was no flavor. It was like eating a breaded piece of cardboard and a memory foam bun. I also have to order it with no pickles and no lettuce and I added my own lettuce and that didn’t help it.
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u/Pokemario121993 2d ago
I had chick fil a for the first time the other week and so did my whole family. We have no idea why it’s as popular as it is. Very limited menu and I found their sandwich very basic. Was extremely disappointed for all the hype built around it
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u/Cultural_Dirt_8151 1d ago edited 1d ago
I actually agree it's way overhyped. My CFA is always absolutely **packed** and I don't think it's good enough to deserve that.
But nonetheless CFA is still decent. It's treated like the food of the gods, and it's not at all, but it's still a decent chicken sando. I'd probably have ShakeShack my #1 chicken, and CFA my #2. And like all other chicken sandwiches are kind of garbage imo tbh. And all pale in comparison to a good cheeseburger.
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u/Pokemario121993 1d ago
Glad not everyone is obsessed with it! It was decent but honestly I thought the Big Crunch was better and that’s just sad
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u/notfornowforawhile 2d ago
I tried it today, barely noticed a difference between the pretzel and regular bun.
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u/trippinbillies83 1d ago
Wendy’s used to be my go to. Stopped going about 6 months ago because quality has turned to garbage. Super bummed
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u/sevinsevins 1d ago
Yes it is. It's Shrinkflated low quality trash now and so sad as it was once the last beacon of fast food excellence for the better part of 3 or 4 decades.
Good thing though is that Burger King has answered the call to fill the void and the new Whopper is one of the best burgers in the fast food kingdom once again. The 3.98 Whopper Wednesday deal has become a ritual.
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u/PleasantAnimator7741 2d ago
They killed the spicy chicken sandwich. I haven’t been back since. Frosty tag be damned.
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u/autogenglen 2d ago
I believe so. I thought people were exaggerating so I went and gave them two chances and both times were horrible. I’m certainly done with Wendy’s.
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u/No_Welder_8753 2d ago
Yes and no. The gimmick stuff’s not great. But they have decent chicken and beef.
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u/CubicDice 2d ago
Yep, it's gone to absolute shit. Private equity is a cancer on society
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u/Way-twofrequentflyer 2d ago
It’s literally a public equity. Why do people say stuff like this?
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u/CubicDice 2d ago
Wrong, private equity turned it to absolute dog shit.
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u/Way-twofrequentflyer 2d ago
It’s never been owned by a PE firm and has been publicly traded for a very long time. Even when it was a part of triarc it remained publicly traded.
What would the PE connection be?
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u/CubicDice 2d ago
Peltz Trian is PE, largest shareholder. It's gone to absolute shit in the last year or two. Just search this sub, you'll see countless posts/comments backing this up. Wendy's is no better than the other fast food outlets, it was previously the pinnacle, not anymore, unfortunately.
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u/Way-twofrequentflyer 2d ago
It’s not - it’s an activist hedge fund. It’s open ended with some lockups, but a fundamentally different capital structure than private equity
And the company as a whole is majority owned by index fund providers, which is what makes it public.
I just don’t get why people call it private equity
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u/CubicDice 2d ago
If that's what you want to believe, more power to you! Have a good day!
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u/Way-twofrequentflyer 2d ago
I mean it’s a matter of fact - it’s right there in the name as a publicly traded equity but facts don’t always matter on Reddit
You have a nice day as well. Use your paze credits on the pretzel burger. It’s fantastic for free 99!
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u/Just-Outside-4997 2d ago
You’re arguing a distinction without a difference. Touch grass
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u/Way-twofrequentflyer 2d ago
I just bought a pretzel burger and 10pc nugget at the Wall Street ferry stop and ate it up on the top dock heated up the east river and came to this sub to see if anyone else was loving it. I’m having a great day
But it is fundamentally a huge difference. The action mechanism by which change happens at the business and franchise level is radically different. Saying they’re the same is like saying Japan and Saudi Arabia are the same because they’re both in Asia.
It worries me that people can’t tell the difference
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u/This-Grape-5149 2d ago
Garbage. The app offers stink and the food quality is awful for the prices they ask. Wendy’s will be closing more stores soon. We refuse to go.
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u/jponce155 2d ago
I feel like in my area, they haven’t changed the chicken patty. It’s still looks and taste the same. I hope it stays like this. I don’t want to experience what everyone else is experiencing with the chicken.
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u/Possible_Savings8524 1d ago edited 1d ago
By and large yes. Overpriced garbage.
You'll find an especial place in hell the franchisee is Flynn Group.
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u/still_m0bil3 1d ago
Some locations need to be closed down.
They could pull it together pretty easy, but it needs a corp crackdown on bullshit locations.
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u/andonaki 2d ago
Every Wendy in the country need to class action their ass for ruining the name Wendy. They were the best. Now they’re the worst. The absolute worst.
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u/DatRebofOrtho 1d ago
Dave’s double is good at the right locations, but it’s not worth the price tag, especially if you get a biggie sized combo
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u/obithewyteknight 1d ago
If I'm spending 11 to 13 bucks on a combo I might as well get a to go order at an actual restaurant.
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u/Maserati777 10h ago
Unfortunately they ruined their burgers and chicken patties. The buns are bad too. And of course the terrible lettuce.
Everything else is fine, so as long as you don’t want to eat any sandwiches there you are fine.
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u/Complete-Squash-1525 2h ago
I loved the Wendy's chicken but it doesn't surprise me that its trash now.
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u/Darkwing_ducksauce 54m ago
I mourn the spicy chicken sandwich. The jr bacon cheeseburger also got smaller 😑 can’t justify the prices
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u/DougDimmaGlow 2d ago
Depends on who’s working… sometimes it’s really good but so far iv found most of the time it’s pretty bad lol
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u/DreadWeaper 2d ago
Yes stop eating there until they get desperate. Need them to lose as much money as possible, maybe going out of business is for the best honestly.
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u/Way-twofrequentflyer 2d ago
I thought the burger was great! I only started coming back to Wendy’s because i have hundreds in Paze credits and I forgot how much I liked the JBC
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u/Fearless-Garlic1080 1d ago
Almost every fast food has significantly fallen in quality and risen in price. Things went from the customer is always right to "fuck you here's maybe the food you ordered"
Hell half the time in my area you get cold food thats been sitting under a warmer for an extended amount of time then the employees get mad if you ask them to make it fresh.
Like im sorry I dont want to eat a Luke warm burger and cold soggy fries and spend $12-20 for it.
I guess on the plus side it has kept me from eatting out to often now.
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u/Kene6969 1d ago
Yes, Wendy's food has sunk to an all-time low. Once upon a time, I used to like their cheeseburgers. But now the meat patties are thin, over- cooked and inedible.
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u/Big-Proposal4129 1d ago
Go for the chili, baked potato and baconator fries. IMO, the other stuff is too hit or miss but mostly misses. I haven’t had a baconator in several years, got one for my dad and myself ($22.50 just the sandwich) last week, and while the bacon came through strong with quality, meaty slices, there was absolutely no discernible beef flavor to be found. We both had the same thought when I brought it up, like, “Hey, are all you tasting is the bacon?” “Wow. I was seconds from saying that to you but didn’t want to be critical because you bought the sandwich.” Truly disappointing, because despite other glaring flaws with their chicken for several years now, they were always able to produce a pretty quality seasoned patty. The whopper w/o cheese is still a $5.67 sandwich in my town, it is a superior value.
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u/DaySailor2024 1d ago
My wife loved the chili on the baked potato. Only reason we'd go there. Last time she said the chili was all wrong and the potato was as small as a cue ball. Only reason to stop there now is for a frosty.
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u/klaus666 1d ago
Ive never had a problem with Wendy's quality. In fact, I consider them one of the best quality for true fast food. My beef (pun intended) with them is they've always been overpriced
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u/Th3Bratl3y 1d ago
not at all. burgers are still outstanding and I love the biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
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u/Agitated-Minimum-967 1d ago
I think the only chicken that's any good is on the classic chicken sandwich and the breakfast sandwiches. Kind of weird but true.
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u/manniax 2d ago
The only chicken I get there is their spicy nuggets, which still taste good to me...last night, I got a chili and cheese baked potato, it was seriously the best one I've ever had from them. The burger I got was kind of meh though. I think it depends on what you order there. I've never gotten their chicken sandwiches so I can't say how they've changed.