Wendy's menu drops Frosty, adds a whole lot more
Wendy's customers are going to be upset that a popular favorite is leaving the fast-food chain's menu.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, fast-food menus rarely changed. In order to offer the "fast" part of fast food, chains had to keep their menus simple.
That began to change in the 1980s and 1990s when limited-time offers became popular. Many of these were simple variants of regular menu items.
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It's not hard to add barbecue sauce to a Burger King Whopper or a McDonald's Quarter Pounder, but simple changes enabled these chains to market new offerings. In recent years, the pace of these developments and limited offers has increased.
Seasonal items, like various chains' fish sandwiches, come back at roughly the same time each year (in this case, for the Lenten season). Others, like the McDonald's Shamrock Shake or Starbucks's Pumpkin Spice, are highly anticipated and seem to come earlier and stay longer each year.
In other cases, various limited-time offers come and go on no real schedule. Some, like the McDonald's McRib, depend on the availability of the pork scraps that make up the sandwich, while others are used to drive customers to stores during slow times.
In certain cases, fast-food kitchens have only limited capacity, meaning that one menu item must go away for another to appear.
That's what's about to happen at Wendy's (WEN) . Image source: Wendy's
Wendy's makes a Frosty change
Wendy's locations have the capacity to make only two Frosty flavors at a time.
Since chocolate is the classic flavor, it's kept on the menu, while vanilla gets swapped out for any new options.
The chain is currently offering Chocolate and Girl Scout Thin Mint Frosties. That flavor was actually layered on top of the base chocolate or vanilla Frosty.
"The Thin Mints Frosty combines the Classic Chocolate or Vanilla Frosty, swirled and topped with a rich, minty cookie crumble sauce inspired by the flavor of Girl Scout Thin Mints," the chain shared. "With both chocolate and vanilla to try, fans can choose their favorite ways to enjoy the Thin Mints Frosty."
Those Frosty variants have been on the menu since late February, but they are expected to make way for new special Frosty flavors in both April and May.
"I am counting down the days until Wendy's drops the new Frosty Swirls and Frosty Fusions! Enjoy the Thin Mints Frosty while you can because it's amazing, but we've got some crazy ones coming this spring," posted Snackolator on Instagram.
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He shared that some flavors are coming in April, with new variants being added in May.
"First we'll see the Frosty Fusions, which is effectively adding flavor swirls to either a chocolate or vanilla Frosty in brownie batter, caramel, and strawberry," he explained. "But then we get wild soon after with three mix-in options including toffee pieces, Oreo cookies, and Pop-Tarts."
All these new options enable Wendy's to keep both vanilla and chocolate on the menu.
Spongebob, Frosty help Wendy's grow
Wendy's closed its year strongly, according to Chief Executive Kirk Tanner.
"In the U.S., our traffic and dollar growth outpaced the [quick-service-restaurant] burger category," he said on the chain's fourth-quarter earnings call. "Growth was led by the success of our collaboration with Paramount, celebrating SpongeBob's 25th anniversary. At its peak, this fan favorite drove an impressive 20% lift in same-restaurant sales with increased traffic and an average check, including a Crabby Patty with nearly double our typical size,"
He also noted that more typical limited-time offers helped, too.
"Growth in the quarter was also supported by innovative limited-time offerings, including our Salted Caramel Frosty and Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger," he added. "The morning daypart continued to be a strong contributor to U.S. growth with sales up over 4% compared to the prior year."
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The Frosty is an important part of the chain's plans going forward.
"Our innovation extended beyond the breakfast daypart with a series of new menu items, including our Saucy Nuggs that expanded our chicken offerings," he said. "We also featured new limited-time Frosty flavors tailored to each season to provide fresh, exciting experiences that resonated with our customers throughout the year."
