Wendy’s Re-Entry Into Breakfast Sparks Another Morning Fast-Food War

Nevin Barich

Nevin Barich

March 3, 2020

As the father of a 17-month-old son, finding “me” time is hard to come by. Sometimes, you have to get creative. My creativity leads me to running errands every Saturday morning, with one of those “errands” being going to a fast-food drive thru to get some breakfast and eating the food in my car while listening to a podcast about professional wrestling.

My typical go-to location on Saturday? Carl’s Jr., for the simple fact that it has a mix-and-match deal offering any two of certain breakfast sandwiches and burritos for $4. I’m a fan of breakfast items at other quick service establishments, but Carl’s Jr. is the only major one around my area that offers such a deal.

Until now, anyway.

In the blink of an eye, breakfast competition among major fast-food chains has heated up, with Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Burger King all joining Carl’s Jr. in recently offering mix-and-match breakfast deals. McDonald’s is offering a 2-for-$4 breakfast sandwich deal for a limited time; Burger King is offering the same deal for $5; and Wendy’s is offering several special morning offers as it relaunches into the breakfast realm.

Of course, it’s Wendy’s that’s prompting its competitors to suddenly offer morning deals. Wendy’s is betting big on breakfast—media reports say the company is planning to spend up to $80 million on marketing this year promoting its breakfast menu—and so McDonald’s and Burger King would be foolish to not respond. Will they do more than simply give their customers a limited-time offer? McDonald’s probably won’t—it would be unlike the Golden Arches to react too strongly to a competitor’s move—but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Burger King do more, even if it simply made its “limited-time offer” ongoing for an indefinite period of time.

Regardless, one thing is clear:

My Saturday morning “errands” just got more options.

Nevin Barich is the Food & 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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