Its salads were a novel addition copied by its biggest competitor.
Its baked potatoes and chili remain unique fixtures on its menu.
Its value menu has indisputably become an industry staple.
But Wendy's International Inc.'s history of innovation is just that - largely history. Competitors have beaten the Dublin company to the punch lately, offering burgers boasting copious quantities of meat and portable, popable concoctions like snack wraps.
"They were leading the herd,"said Stuart Morris, president of QSR Consulting Group Inc. in Coronado, Calif. "Everyone else was choking on their dust. Now Wendy's is choking on the dust themselves."
The company wants to restore the mantle of fast-food innovator, and its effort to wrest it back is coming none too soon.
Wendy's is under the gun from investors who are calling for its sale, and a stumbling economy promises to make the fight in an ultra-competitive fast-food trade even harder. Wendy's also sees a chance to build on nearly two years of slowly improving same-store sales, an initiative that could yield big benefits for the No. 3 burger chain because the sour economy is forcing rivals to curtail expansion of their store networks and make the most of the restaurants they have.
