Fast food breakfasts have been all the rage with McDonald’s and Taco Bell offering expanded menus, but Wendy’s has remained quiet for a long time. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, though. In 2012, the chain tried testing out sausage biscuits, breakfast sandwiches, and steel-cut oatmeal, but they only lasted a year. In 2014, the CEO (now former CEO) said Wendy’s would not be moving into breakfast. His reasons? It’s just too hard, with all the other chains being more established. He believed Wendy’s didn’t have the marketing resources, and past tests showed a breakfast menu wouldn’t be profitable enough.
The current CEO doesn’t clearly share those views, however. In 2020, Wendy’s will take another big swing with a menu featuring items like a honey butter chicken sandwich, breakfast Baconator, and cold-brew coffee Frosty. There will likely be other food; a spokesperson said to expect seasoned potatoes and croissant sandwiches. Adding breakfast may seem like a small step in the grand scheme of things, but it’s going to cost the chain around $20 million, and it will add 20,000 jobs. Those numbers seemed to have worried investors, as Wendy’s stock fell by over 10% on Tuesday, September 10th. That makes that day Wendy’s worst for stocks in six years.
The breakfast chicken sandwich will star whipped honey butter
Right now, you can find Wendy’s breakfast at 300 test markets, but you’ll have to wait until next year, when the menu goes nationwide. Other recently-added or limited items from Wendy’s include the Bacon Jalapeno Chicken Sandwich, Bacon Maple Chicken Sandwich (2018), and Frosty cookie sundae. Just this past February, they added the S’Awesome Bacon Cheeseburger, Peppercorn Mushroom Melt, and BBQ Cheeseburger to their permanent menu.