Wendy’s will close an additional 140 restaurants this year — on top of the 100 closures the company previously announced in the spring.
But according to the company, these closings should equal the number of new restaurants Wendy’s expects to open in 2024.
The latest announcement of the closings came during a conference call with investors on Thursday, Oct. 31, according to the Associated Press, when CEO Kirk Tanner revealed that the locations were “outdated and located in underperforming areas” and had “well below the system average “financially.
“They’re just in locations that don’t build our brands,” Tanner said, according to the AP. “You’re looking at a brand that’s 55 years old and some of those restaurants are pretty dated.”
While the company did not provide a list of locations expected to close its doors, the CEO clarified that the restaurants are not located in “one specific area.”
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Remodeled Wendy’s location in northern Idaho.
Don & Melinda Crawford/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty
According to CNN, Wendy’s conducted “a robust review of individual restaurants to ensure they meet our sales expectations, have the profitability to drive growth and deliver the Wendy’s brand experience for customers,” before determining that “the Wendy’s system is incredibly healthy “.
However, the restaurants to close were below the system average with a unit volume of approximately $1.1 million, according to USA Today. They will be replaced by more profitable locations with average unit volume of $2 million and above, the outlet added.
A spokesperson for Wendy’s confirmed to PEOPLE on Saturday, Nov. 2, that the company is on track to meet its goal of 250-300 new restaurants a year. That means Wendy’s is expected to see “a similar number of closings as openings” overall in 2024, they wrote, after Wendy’s previously announced 100 restaurant closings in May.
“As a 55-year-old brand with more than 7,100 restaurants worldwide, closures are a normal activity to maintain a healthy system,” the spokesperson wrote.
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During the discussion about earnings, according to USA TodayTanner said the company has launched about 500 locations in the past two years. According to the outlet, as of Sept. 29, Wendy’s 7,166 locations included 6,010 in the U.S. and 1,156 elsewhere.
“Our focus is on building new restaurants because we know they deliver a lot more than the average of these underperforming restaurants,” Tanner said, according to the AP. “We generally want the best restaurants for customers and the customer experience we want to provide.”
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News from Wendy’s comes in the company channel Sponge Bob Skockani last month in honor of the cartoon’s 25th anniversary to launch the Wendy’s Krabby Patty Kollab — featuring both the Pineapple Under the Sea Frosty and, of course, the Krabby Patty Kollab Burger.
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Source: HIS Education