Wendy's might be better known for Frostys than biscuits, but that doesn't mean it's
given up on giving its patrons a fresh meal in the morning.
From the various menu items that vanished, to where everything is at today, here's the
411 on the fast food chain's rocky breakfast history.
Fast food breakfasts aren't typically considered a healthy option.
However, Wendy's doesn't totally ignore those who want a nutritional breakfast.
Oatmeal may not be the most exciting breakfast but its merits for improving cholesterol have
been touted for years.
Wendy's serves up plain jane oatmeal made up of the incredibly simple ingredients of
oats, water, and cinnamon.
If oatmeal's not your thing, you can opt for apple bites, which have only six grams of
sugar, and that's about it for healthy options.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are plenty of greasy biscuit and croissant sandwiches.
And the absolute big boy of Wendy's breakfast is the Breakfast Baconator.
This burger masquerading as a breakfast sandwich is 770 calories of bacon, cheese, egg, sausage,
and cheese sauce.
That's nearly 2,000 milligrams of tasty sodium to start your day!
Wendy's has been around since 1969, and for a while it was all just square patty burgers
and fries on the menu.
It wasn't until 1985 that the chain decided to take a chance and start nationally offering
its customers a fast and hot breakfast.
Commercials touted Wendy's as the "fresh" option to more lackluster fast food breakfast
competitors.
The chain spent almost a year testing out its breakfast offerings, and it seemed poised
to be a serious competitor to the likes of Burger King and McDonald's.
Wendy's new breakfast venture should've been a hit.
After all, they were riding high off the popularity of their "Where's the beef?" ad campaign.
"Hello?" "Where's the beef?!"
But those breakfast aspirations dwindled rather quickly.
After just nine months, Wendy's pulled breakfast from most of its 3,450 locations at the time.
If franchise owners wanted to serve breakfast, they could, though only about 800 locations
decided to keep the menu.
Being a fan of Wendy's breakfast has to be frustrating.
The chain generally sat out the 1990s morning market, but by the mid-2000s they were ready
once again.
They began testing breakfast in 2006, but then pulled back on the reins a few years
later, explaining that its products weren't meeting quality standards or consumer expectations.
Not one to bow out for good, Wendy's began toying with the breakfast idea again in 2012,
but then stopped offering its breakfast items at all but around 400 of its 5,800 stores
by 2013.
This time around, the company worried that its breakfast menu may have been stealing
some effort away from its burger offerings.
At this point, when Wendy's announces another go at breakfast, it'll be hard not to raise
an eyebrow.
Wendy's 1980s breakfast experiment may not have been a huge success, but they certainly
deserve some credit for thinking outside the box.
While other fast food chains were content with biscuits and frozen pancakes, Wendy's
wanted to stand out.
The secret weapon was omelettes, or at least that was the hope.
Fresh, made-to-order omelettes are typically found at diners or hotel buffets.
But they're not exactly a food that lends itself well to a fast food drive-thru.
Nevertheless, Wendy's tried offering omelettes and quickly found out that they significantly
slowed down operations.
Founder Dave Thomas told the Los Angeles Times in 1986 that he just couldn't compete with
competitors who would just make their items and then put them under a heat lamp.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a successful Wendy's breakfast program.
The chain seems to be improving its breakfast sandwiches with each try, even if they don't
last more than a few years.
When Wendy's launched the Artisan Egg Sandwich in 2010 it was still going strong six years
later, although it ultimately didn't last forever.
But then they came out swinging with another well-received item: the Honey Butter Chicken
Biscuit.
Eater dubbed it "the best breakfast sandwich of all time," and it's still hanging around
on the menu into 2019.
Wendy's might not yet be winning the breakfast wars, but they do seem to be putting out valiant
efforts that are getting noticed.
Finding a Wendy's that actually serves breakfast can be a real challenge.
In fact, Wendy's is the largest fast food chain that doesn't serve breakfast nationally.
The primary reason for this boils down to convenience.
If an item isn't portable, it's difficult to sell in the fast food breakfast market.
That's not to say that Wendy's current offerings aren't portable, but wedging itself into a
commuter's morning routine is difficult.
Those Wendy's locations that do serve breakfast are often in places where there's guaranteed
foot traffic and people may be more likely to break their usual routine, such as airports.
While some franchisees have decided that breakfast is right for their particular market, only
two percent of Wendy's sales come from breakfast.
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