Wendy’s Keeps up Its Twitter Beef With McDonald’s

Wendy’s isn’t giving up on heckling McDonald’s about its flash-frozen beef — even after the Golden Arches announced Tuesday it would be using fresh beef patties in some of its burgers.

“Hey @McDonalds, heard the news. Happy #NationalFrozenFoodDay to you for all the frozen beef that’s sticking around in your cheeseburgers,” Wendy’s Twitter account wrote Tuesday afternoon.

Wendy’s, which has aligned itself in its advertising and marketing as superior to McDonald’s because it uses “fresh, never frozen beef patties” in its menu items, famously has beef with its much-larger competitor. The fast-food chain has even gone so far as to call out McDonald’s self-dubbed phrase “flash-frozen beef” and frequently pokes fun at the giant on social media.

On Tuesday, it appeared as though McDonald’s finally buckled under the pressure of Wendy’s meaty critiques and announced it would start serving “hot off the grill” beef, saying that it has added fresh Quarter Pounder beef patties in around 3,500 domestic restaurants to date, and plans to get fresh beef in 14,000 U.S. locations by mid-Spring.

McDonald’s has been working on a fresh beef plan for a while now, having recently tested it the American heartland. In early January, it was reported that McDonald’s was testing out “fresh, never-frozen beef patties” in several restaurant’s around Tulsa, Oklahoma.

But Wendy’s isn’t buying McDonald’s claims, and Tuesday they savagely pointed out specific McDonald’s menu items (including the Big Mac, Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, Hamburger, McDouble and Bacon McDouble) that continue to be made with frozen beef, even after McDonald’s big announcement on Tuesday.

“It’s almost like you still serve way more frozen beef,” Wendy’s wrote.

Wendy’s also tweeted an indirect burn against McDonald’s writing, “Some people are going to use fresh beef in SOME cheeseburgers, SOME of the time. We believe in using fresh, never frozen beef in every cheeseburger everyday.”

But Tuesday’s Twitter slam from Wendy’s wasn’t the only time the Columbus, Ohio-based chain has called out Mickey D’s. Wendy’s recently served up some fresh beef on National Compliment Day after tweeting on Jan. 24: “Since it’s [National Compliment Day], tweet us a tweet and we will compliment you so hard.”

Many took them up on their offer, but one follower encouraged them to “compliment” their competition, McDonald’s.

Wendy’s took no time in firing back with a decidedly sarcastic response. “They are absolutely amazing at freezing beef,” Wendy’s tweeted.

Tuesday’s Twitter blitzkrieg capped off a rough few days for McDonald’s, who reported its worst-ever day recently, closing Friday, March 2 down 4.8% — the worst dollar decline in the company’s publicly traded history.