Wendy’s Saucily Appropriates Golden Arches To Tout Its New Fries Recipe
By Mikelle Leow, 28 Feb 2022
Photo 191617719 © Nikkimeel | Dreamstime.com
Wendy’s has burnt just about everything about McDonald’s, from its frozen beef to menu items that don’t align with their advertising. The latest to be handed the brutal Wendy’s sizzle are its rival’s beloved French fries.
Last year, the sassy, pigtailed fast-food player replaced its fries with a new and improved “Hot & Crispy-guaranteed” recipe. In the months since, it has promoted this version in a series of snarky campaigns. These include a set of billboards that could at first be mistaken as McDonald’s banners.
The new activation, recently spotted in Chicago and featured by Entrepreneur, picture a red background with a French fry bent to mimic half of McDonald’s Golden Arches. “Hot & Crispy fries don’t arch,” the signs read. “Just sayin’.”
I love y’all @Wendys but @McDonalds fries are god tier. Y’all okay though ð¤·ð¾âï¸ pic.twitter.com/G3G3fBRlQb
— Lola S. (@LolaSkye_93) February 3, 2022
Wendy’s mascot appears on a whitewashed portion of the banner, outlining the statement: “Our new fries are preferred over McDonald’s almost two-to-one.”
To perfect its fries, Wendy’s experimented with 20 ways to cut its potatoes and improved equipment and protocols, as well as boosted staff training efforts, to ensure fries are always hot and crispy when served.
“What we’ve done is balance the cut of the fry and kept a little bit of the skin of the potato on the fry to be able to drive flavor,” explained Wendy’s president Kurt Kane. “We used a batter system that allows us to be able to maintain crispiness, both when they’re fresh and hot out of the fryer as well as several minutes later.”
Oomph! pic.twitter.com/ceqv2YNg4U
— Joel_Engineer (@Joel_Engineer) February 18, 2022
[via Entrepreneur and The Drum, images via various sources]