Wendy's New French Fries a 'Huge Success'
Wendy's New French Fries a 'Huge Success'
![Wendy's/Arby's profit beats expectations as Arby's improves Wendy's/Arby's profit beats expectations as Arby's improves](https://media.potatopro.com/new-wendys-french-fries-1200.jpg?width=1200&height=743&crop=smart&mode=crop)
Want some fries with that?
At Wendy's the answer increasingly seems to be yes, thanks to the chain replacing its thin and soggy french fries with a crisper, skin-on version flavored with sea salt. The fast feeder will keep the pressure on with a campaign launching this week from Kaplan Thaler Group.
Since the new fry hit the menu last November, orders with fries rose almost 10% per 100 transactions, "almost equal to McDonald's,"Roland Smith, president-CEO of Wendy's/Arby's Group, said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call earlier this month.
"Our new-fry launch was a huge success,"he concluded. "It's not often that companies like ours take a core product like fries and actually make a significant change and have that change be as positive as it was."
![Detail of Wendy's logo Detail of Wendy's logo](https://media.potatopro.com/wendy-logo-detail-550.jpg?width=809)
Detail of Wendy's logo
For that reason, Wendy's took no chances. According to Kantar, in December -- the first full month the fries were available -- it spent nearly 79%, or $17.7 million, of its measured-media spend pushing fries, compared to spending of $26.9 million for all products in December 2009.
During that launch month alone, fry units were up 17%, Mr. Smith said.
The figures look more impressive considering the overall amount of fry units sold industry-wide has been in a slow decline over the past few years.
The number of fries sold at quick-service restaurants in the U.S. fell 1% in 2010;2% in 2009;2% in 2008 and 2% in 2007, according to NPD Group.