Your next trip to Wendy’s may leave a larger dent in your pocket. Amid ongoing inflation and rising chicken prices, the fan-favorite fast-food restaurant chain is reportedly planning to raise the prices of its menu items later in 2022. The reported planned price hike was revealed by Chief Financial Officer GP Plosch during the chain’s fourth-quarter earnings call earlier in March.
Discussing the company’s 2022 outlook and future plans, Plosch, according to The Street, confirmed, “Yes, we are pricing over 5% in 2022. That gets us to double-digit pricing on a two-year basis, and it’s clearly providing a tailwind for us on the [same-restaurant sales] number.” The Street didn’t note if Plosch revealed further details about the price hike, and it is unclear when a possible price hike could go into effect. Wendy’s has not confirmed any plans outside of that earnings call.
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While a potential price hike, which would follow price hikes witnessed across fast food restaurant chains amid rising consumer prices, will more than likely upset fast food lovers, Wendy’s is still reportedly planning on serving up plenty of deals. Plosch noted that remaining affordable is a pillar of Wendy’s, stating, “we’re going to watch value and value perception. You know about 30%, 35% of our consumers are making less than $45,000 a year. So we need to make sure that we are striking the right balance and maintaining value perception.” Meanwhile, Chief Executive Todd Penegor said the company hopes to grow its business by driving more breakfast sales.
“We think there’s a lot of legroom, a lot of opportunity to grow the breakfast in the future. As morning routines come back, as folks start to routine, move back into the office a little more, kids all getting back into school, all of those things play to continue to drive our business quite hard,” he said. “The disruptive promotions do get folks’ attention. It allows us to talk about the Wendy’s brand, to talk about the quality at a very great price point, and it does drive a lot of people in for trial.”
In recent years, Wendy’s has become a major player among fast-food breakfast. In February, the chain introduced its first new breakfast menu item in the U.S. in two years, the new Hot Honey Chicken Biscuit. Wendy’s also recently announced that it would launch breakfast in all Wendy’s restaurants across Canada this spring.
