Wendy’s is looking to compete against the long-standing dominance of the McMuffin at McDonald’s.
And it won’t be without big risk.
Cowen restaurant analyst Andrew Charles said Monday it may cost Wendy’s $250 million total in 2020 and 2021 to launch its national breakfast program. Charles said the enormous sum is concentrated in hiring 20,000 workers in a tight labor market, training, equipment and aggressive marketing. Wendy’s feels that it must compete at breakfast-time to maximize its ability as a restaurant, and this is the answer.
Wendy’s surprised investors early last month with plans to hire 20,000 people to drive a nationwide roll-out of breakfast in 2020. The menu — spanning 5,900 or so U.S. restaurants — will feature two premium-priced sandwiches that appear to be very differentiated relative to McDonald’s McMuffin and Burger King’s Croisan’wich. They are the Breakfast Baconator and the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit. There is a version of the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit also served at Whataburger, which is open 24 hours a day.
