Copyright ABC News
Wendy's is closing more U.S. restaurant locations amid a slump in sales across the fast food industry. In an earnings call on Nov. 7, Wendy's interim CEO Ken Cook confirmed that "a mid-single-digit percentage" of the chain's nearly 6,000 U.S. restaurant locations would be closing in the near future. "We are working with our U.S. franchisees to evaluate each and every underperforming restaurant in our system, from both the financial and the customer experience perspective, and developing action plans for how to improve both," Cook said in his remarks. A representative for Wendy's told ABC News they could not provide specific numbers or locations at this time. Cook's reference to a "mid-single-digit percentage," however, could mean between 4% and 6% of the company's U.S. locations, or approximately 240 to 360 stores. Closures will be happening through the end of 2025, according to Cook. "When we look at the system today, we have some restaurants that do not elevate the brand and are a drag from a franchisee financial performance perspective," Cook said. "The goal is to address and fix those restaurants." He explained the decision to make more cuts stemmed from a goal of improving the "long-term health of the overall system," with hopes that the company can optimize existing locations and bolster the savings to reinvest capital to other franchisees. Wendy's reported a 4.7% drop in same-store sales, which are locations that have been open for a minimum of one year, plus lost 2.6% in systemwide sales globally last quarter.
