Wendy’s Targeted 8,500–9,000 Restaurants by 2025

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on March 8, 2022.

In early March 2022, Wendy’s released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 results. Fourth-quarter revenue was $470 million, down 0.2% year over year. Full-year 2021 revenue was $1.9 billion, up 9.4%.

Systemwide sales reached $12.5 billion in 2021, up 9.2%. Average annual unit volume was $1.9 million in the U.S. market and $1.45 million in international markets outside the U.S.

Restaurant Footprint

As of January 2, 2022, Wendy’s operated 6,949 restaurants across the U.S. and 31 countries outside the U.S. Company-operated stores accounted for about 5% of the system. In 2016, Wendy’s sold 310 company-operated restaurants to franchisees, reducing its company-owned mix.

In the U.S., Wendy’s had 5,938 restaurants: 403 company-operated stores and 5,535 franchised stores operated by 228 franchisees.

Outside the U.S., Wendy’s had 1,011 restaurants. Five stores in the U.K. were company-operated, while the remaining 1,006 were franchised.

In 2021, Wendy’s opened 12 company-operated stores and closed 8 underperforming company stores. Franchisees opened 198 stores and closed 81 underperforming franchised locations. Net new openings totaled 210 restaurants.

Pickup Window Mix

Beyond dine-in, Wendy’s restaurants typically include a pickup window. In 2019, two-thirds of sales at company-operated stores came through pickup windows. In 2020 and 2021, pickup-window sales accounted for 83% and 82% of sales, respectively.

As of January 2, 2022, Wendy’s had about 14,500 employees. Roughly two-thirds were part-time employees and one-third were full-time employees.

Growth Strategy

Wendy’s said its long-term growth strategy focused on three areas:

• Building the breakfast business and expanding operating dayparts.
• Accelerating digital development.
• Expanding the restaurant base.

Since launching breakfast in the U.S. in March 2020, Wendy’s breakfast sales grew about 25% in 2021. Breakfast represented 7.3% of U.S. sales. The company expected average weekly breakfast sales per U.S. restaurant to reach $3,000–$3,500 by the end of 2022.

Wendy’s also said it planned to launch breakfast in Canada in the second quarter of 2022. The company expected the Canadian breakfast business to contribute a 3%–4% increase to international same-store sales.

Digital sales represented 8.5% of sales in 2021 and 9.5% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

For unit expansion, Wendy’s expected its restaurant count to reach 8,500–9,000 by 2025.

Ghost Kitchens

In August 2021, Wendy’s reached a partnership with REEF Kitchens to open and operate 700 ghost kitchens in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. These units were delivery-only locations without dine-in service.

By the end of 2021, 30 ghost kitchens had opened. Each ghost kitchen generated average annual unit sales of $500,000–$1 million.

Wendy’s expected to open 150–200 ghost kitchens in 2022, with about 65% in the U.S., 25% in the U.K., and the remaining 10% in Canada.

Note: Forward-looking store-count, breakfast, same-store-sales, and ghost-kitchen figures are historical guidance from the March 2022 source article.