Wendy’s is set to close hundreds of restaurants as customers struggling financially cut back on dining out.
Interim CEO Ken Cook announced on an earnings call Friday that the fast food chain will close a “mid single-digit percentage” of locations. With about 6,000 restaurants, Wendy’s could shutter between 200 to 350 locations.
Cook said some restaurants are expected to close as early as later this year, and locations will continue to shutter in 2026.
A specific list of locations was not provided.
“Closures of underperforming units are expected to boost sales and profitability at nearby locations,” Cook told investors.
Just last year, Wendy’s announced that it was closing 140 underperforming restaurants. But the fast food chain said at the time it would add new restaurants at better locations.
Wendy’s shares dropped 2.6 percent on Friday, with the stock down 46 percent overall this year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The restaurant closures announcement comes as Wendy’s reported a net income of $44.3 million, down from $50.2 million last year, the WSJ reported.
Cook acknowledged during the call that some consumers are feeling financially strained right now.
“We do see more pressure on the lower-income consumer. We continue to see that in the third quarter, and we expect that to continue into the fourth,” Cook said.
He then mentioned Wendy’s Biggie Bag value meal: “You get a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, 100% fresh, never frozen North American beef, a four-piece nugget, fries, and a drink, all for $5.”
The cost of living is on many Americans’ minds right now, and earlier this week, they took their concerns to the polls. Democrats won major elections in New York, New Jersey and Virginia, campaigning on the promise of affordability.
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent in September, with the annual inflation rate climbing to 3 percent. Both of these figures were lower than experts expected but the annual inflation rate is still higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.
In New York City, 56 percent of voters said the cost of living was the most important issue facing their communities, according to the NBC News Exit Poll.
Voters in New Jersey complained about property taxes and electricity costs, while voters in Virginia said the federal government cuts this year have affected their families' finances.
