Wendy’s Company is launching a new global restaurant design standard, Global Next Gen, to enhance customer, crew and digital experiences.
The company said the new design will feature a sleek and modern design with an optimized layout and next-generation technology to deliver more Wendy’s to more people with an emphasis on convenience, speed and accuracy.
The first location will be in the Spring of 2023 in New Albany, Ohio, near the company’s home base in Dublin, Ohio.
Abigail Pringle, President, International and Chief Development Officer at The Wendy’s Company, said the new design is part of the broader company plan and focus on growth.
“We have three strategic growth pillars that we work on related to becoming the world’s most thriving and loved restaurant brand which is our vision. It’s really three things which is our breakfast day part. So how do we expand the brand? Second is how do we accelerate our digital business and then third how do we develop, how do we grow and expand our footprint?,” she said.
“So two of these pillars are really at the heart of this design. It’s really around development expansion and accelerating our digital business. So how do we kind of connect the digital and the physical together so that we can really intersect to provide great experiences for our customers and our restaurants?
“We’ve been really watching how our customers engage with our brand, where are they accessing our brand, how do they want to create convenience in their lives? And we have found that we have really increased our business in Canada through our mobile ordering, our drive-thru of course for the convenience there that’s been there for a long time and delivery. And so when we looked at that we said we need to change how our buildings are designed, because they’ve been designed over many decades, how do we evolve that design and experience to really better serve our customers with that growing digital business? That was at the heart of it. We’re a people business and our people are at the heart of what we do in our restaurants and we wanted to make it easier to operate, more efficient to operate. Costs are going up across the industry. How do we get even smarter in what it takes to build our restaurants?”
Wendy’s was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas in Columbus, Ohio. Today, Wendy’s and its franchisees have about 7,000 restaurants worldwide. In Canada, it has more than 400 locations.
According to Wendy’s, Global Next Gen includes the following design features and technology to better serve today’s customers:
- Delivery Pick-Up Window: A dedicated delivery pick-up window and delivery parking makes it more convenient and quicker for delivery drivers, who previously needed to enter the dining room, to grab orders and go. This design also shifts traffic out of the drive-thru line where customers are waiting, so crew can focus on taking and fulfilling orders more quickly, efficiently and accurately;
- Dedicated Mobile Order Pickup: Global Next Gen features mobile order parking and pick-up shelving in-restaurant. Customers select a pick-up time when placing their mobile order and upon arrival, park in a dedicated mobile order parking spot, grab their meal off the mobile order pick-up shelving and enjoy their Wendy’s favourites;
- Reimagined Kitchen: A new galley-style kitchen design, which runs from the front to the back of the restaurant, increases efficiency and oversight for crew across all sales channels. The kitchen design allows for efficiencies at the point of sale, provides the ability for crew to slide between positions more easily throughout the day and supports faster order fulfillment and culinary innovation;
- Next Generation Technology: Global Next Gen comes alive through the next generation of modernized technology that works hard behind the scenes, allowing restaurant teams to handle significantly more digital business than before. This also provides a platform for forward-leaning technology innovation; and
- Optimized Infrastructure: New restaurants will use more efficient building elements such as lighting and HVAC to decrease energy usage and costs.
“To accelerate our business and expand our footprint across the globe, we must consistently meet the needs of our customers however they choose to engage with Wendy’s, whether that’s through a digital platform or in the drive-thru,” said Wendy’s President and CEO Todd Penegor, in a statement. “Global Next Gen enhances the customer experience across ordering channels and streamlines operations for our crew, all the while creating better returns for franchisees.
“As the first restaurant brand to offer a modern pick-up window more than 50 years ago, Wendy’s continues its legacy of design and innovation with Global Next Gen. Our new global restaurant standard unlocks opportunities at the intersection of innovative design and technology, bringing us one step closer to our vision of becoming the world’s most thriving and beloved restaurant brand.”
Pringle said all new locations for the brand will have the new design restaurant. In recent years, the company has also been remodeling existing restaurants to make them fresh and contemporary. As part of that, many franchisees have wanted to rebuild. So the new design will also be applied to a pretty extensive remodel of certain locations. And also, the company has found that there are many elements of the new design which can be applied to existing restaurants.
“Ultimately what we do is create kind of this Global Next Gen as really the core DNA the brand will use to go and evolve our expanded footprint. So that can be traditional restaurants. We’ll apply them where we can to non-traditional locations and really become, if you will, our operating model as we go forward,” she said.
Pringle said Wendy’s has a great business in Canada and is excited about the continued growth in the market.
“We absolutely are committed to growth (in Canada). We’ve had quite a considerable amount of growth over the last three to five years. We are continuing to grow and expand the footprint through new franchisees and growing with existing franchisees,” she said.
In February, the company launched its campaign Own Your Opportunity, which creates pathways for entrepreneurs who want to grow with Wendy’s through franchising. The initiative creates expanded restaurant ownership opportunities for all and supports the company’s goal of increasing restaurant ownership among underrepresented populations, specifically among women and people of colour.
“We’ve had great success in Canada. It’s exciting to see. We’re actually going to approve quite a few new franchisees this year globally and particularly in Canada. So we have new franchisees coming in and as well we have been engaging with our existing franchisees in Canada to be able to expand their own operations. We’re pleased. I think you’re going to see a lot more Wendy’s all across Canada in the years to come,” added Pringle.
“This new design will start popping up in the second half of 2023. This will be there in Canada shortly thereafter and we already have franchisees engaged in plans.”
