Inside Wendy's Latest Expansion Into The Breakfast Landscape

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , September 12, 2019 (Industry Intelligence Inc.) – If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.

That’s the best way to describe Wendy’s announcement this past Monday that it planned to expand its breakfast menu nationwide by 2020, with menu items to include the Breakfast Baconator (a sandwich featuring sausage, cheese and bacon), Frosty-ccino (ice cream with coffee in it) and honey butter chicken biscuit.

This isn’t the first time Wendy’s served breakfast. In fact, it first started offering morning fare back in 1985, but the company pulled the plug after nine months, blaming lack of portability and unfamiliarity with the products. Wendy’s wouldn’t try breakfast again until 2007, but it failed once again. Five years later, it tried breakfast yet again but pulled the plug in 2013, citing that the profits were not what Wendy’s had hoped for.

So the question is: Should we expect Wendy’s to fail at breakfast one more time, or will this time around prove successful? While you would be forgiven by rolling your eyes at the notion that Wendy’s can actually succeed at selling food in the morning, it has a couple of things in its favor this time around.

First, the company is sparing no expense in this endeavor. It has earmarked $20 million toward breakfast, with plans to hire 20,000 employees and offer other franchisee support. Second, the fast-food breakfast landscape has dramatically changed over the past few years, with several of Wendy’s direct competitors either entering the breakfast market or putting more emphasis on it. For example, McDonald’s changed the game when it launched its all-day breakfast menu, while Taco Bell is now offering breakfast burritos and quesadillas. One can argue that Wendy’s has no choice but to re-enter breakfast if it wants to keep pace.

Fast-food breakfast customers will have another option at their disposal next year. Let’s see if Wendy’s breakfast menu is here to stay this time around.

Nevin Barich is the Food and Beverage Analyst for Industry Intelligence, which can help YOU better address your own industry challenges. We invite you to come take a look at our service.Call us today at 310-553-0008 and we’ll schedule you for a 15-minute demo.

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