Saturday, July 09, 2005

Wendys Menu Offers More Choices

So Shannon and I were watching a tv movie this afternoon and a commercial for the Wendys fast food chain came on. It was a guy with MEPS, Multiple Eating Personality Syndrome.

Here's the Scene
Guy steps up to the counter at Wendys and can't decide what to order. Why you ask, well Wendy's allows you to decide which side item you'd like to accompany your sandwich. You can choose from a potato, chili, french fries, a side salad and a few other items. So once the patron gets to the counter he starts doing a bunch of different voices because he can't decide which side item to order. I don't remember all of them but I do remember him trying to order a bake potato in a southern draw... Needless to say it was pretty funny.

Then Shannon commented about how Wendys commercials have gotten funnier since Dave Thomas died. Her explanation was based on the fact that he was in the vast majority of the commercials before he died. But she said she'd bet money that the commercials featuring him had his face superimposed on a different body.

After Shannon's speculations about Dave Thomas' body doubles and thinking about how Wendys commercials are fairly funny now, I started thinking about fast food menu combinations. Most people don't know this but the art of coming up with a new item for a fast food menu is really a science.

For starters these "food inventors" have to think of a way to introduce something new to the menu using the existing ingredients used to make 80% of the items already on the menu. And then when they introduce a new item they come up with 100 different ways to use that in a host of other new menu items.

Just think about the Taco Bell Chalupa. After they introduced the flat bread to their menu they made about 5 other menu items based on it. So in order to offset the cost of this new item they have to buy they must invent a slew of new items they can charge more for.

Well, the reason I'm even talking about this is because I find it pretty interesting. Wendys has found a way to introduce new items, albeit in the form of new value meal combos, without increasing their costs by introducing new ingredients. I'd say that's definitely thinking outside the hamburger box.

Well done.

Posted By Jason Dowdell at 02:59 PM
Permanent Link: Wendys Menu Offers More Choices | Comments (5)

(5) Comments on Wendys Menu Offers More Choices

I RECENTLY VISITED YOUR RESTAURANT
ON HARPER AT THIRTEEN MILE IN ST. CLAIR SHORES, MICHIGAN.
I ORDERED THE JR. BACON CHEESBURGER, WELL LET ME TELL YOU I WAS THROUGHLY DISSAPOINTED,THE BACON SO THIN THAT I COULD SEE THROUGH IT AND WAS ABOUT 1 1/2 IN.
IN LENGTH. IT TASTED LIKE GARBAGE.
THAT WILL BE THE LAST TIME I WILL EVER GO TO ANY "WENDYS".
THERE'S TO MANY GOOD BURGER SHOPS OUT THERE.

Comments by CHRISTOPHER ZYGAJ : Friday, August 11, 2006 at 01:01 PM

The new advertisement about the "wendy melt" is
offensive to me. I am disgusted to see human
beings crawling out of caves to be "fed" like they
are in a zoo. I refuse to buy your "wendy melt"
until you can find a way to promote your product
without humiliating human beings.Thankyou for
your time.

Linda Shannon

Comments by Linda Shannon : Saturday, September 02, 2006 at 10:16 AM

location #308 located on centrailia rd in chesterfield va. is the most unfriendly restaurant to drive thru...today I decided to eat something different than my norm...the fries I received were cool, hard and fairly tasteless...I munched at least 4 before I decided i'm not taking poor service for my money anymore...I reported the condition of the fries to the clerk @ the window, she immediately pointed me to go to the next window and i could hear her order " hot fries for me"..when i drove up to the 2nd window an african american loud mouth man who was deep frying the fries was shouting out loudly intiminating comments; while the guy at the window was saying shhhhh! " its people like that jerk that i wont be patronizing another wendys....

Comments by j jones : Thursday, October 05, 2006 at 12:17 PM

well i don't think whoever shannon is should say a commercial is funny after a man dies...that's just stupid

Comments by m.m.s : Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 08:45 AM

God, you people are stupid.

You didn't even read, nor understand the point of this post. Your comments are unrelated, off the wall and positively degrading to America as a whole.

Comments by Richard Silverpine : Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 02:34 AM

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