FAT WHORES MOURN : Wendy's to close 140 locations soon

Following a similar closure trend to that of Denny’s and many other big name establishments this year, Wendy’s has announced the impending closure of 140 of its restaurants. The unexpected announcement came during the company's November Q3 2024 earnings call in which Wendy’s president and CEO Kirk Tanner stated, “We want to further improve our restaurant footprint and overall system health.”

During the call, Tanner explained that his decision to close so many restaurants is one that is “strategic” in identifying “outdated and underperforming trade areas.” Tanner noted that these specific locations have “average unit volumes of approximately $1.1 million and operating margins well below the system average.”

The overarching idea here is that Wendy’s will continue to open more storefronts in different regions in order to offset the upcoming store closures.

“We have designed this initiative to ensure that over time, many of these units will be replaced by new restaurants at better locations with significantly improved sales and profitability,” Tanner explained. “We anticipate that total closures in 2024, including additional closures in the fourth quarter, will be offset by new restaurant openings this year, leaving our net unit growth approximately flat compared to the prior year.”