{"id":2337,"date":"2026-02-17T18:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=2337"},"modified":"2026-02-17T18:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:44:12","slug":"wendys-will-close-hundreds-of-u-s-restaurants-in-2026-ceo-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=2337","title":{"rendered":"Wendy\u2019s Will Close Hundreds Of U.S. Restaurants In 2026, CEO Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-journey-body=\"standard-article\">\n<ul data-node-id=\"0\" class=\"css-kw9lqy emevuu60\">\n<li data-node-id=\"0.0\">Wendy\u2019s Interim CEO Ken Cook announced plans to close up to 358 restaurants nationwide. <\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"0.1\">The closures follow a steep decline in the company\u2019s stock value and are scheduled to take place over the first quarter of the year. <\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"0.2\">The chain will close underperforming locations to help revitalize the brand, alongside other key strategies. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr data-node-id=\"1\" class=\"css-18pb4rg emevuu60\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"2\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">It\u2019s sad but true: We are witnessing the extinction of chain restaurants as we know them. In the early aughts, these fast food behemoths were all the rage. They were quick, convenient, and served affordable food all across the globe. Now, more people are turning to independently owned restaurants, and with inflation and never-ending price hikes, fast food just doesn\u2019t have the lure it once had.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Case in point: In the past year alone, we\u2019ve seen places like Bahama Breeze, Pizza Hut, and Denny\u2019s shutter locations across the country. And now we can add Wendy\u2019s to that ever-growing list.<\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"editorial-link\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-16\" data-node-id=\"4\" class=\"embed\">\n<aside class=\"css-1fm2v8u e94w1mj9\">\n<h6 class=\"css-18s47pf e94w1mj7\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-theme-key=\"title-design-element-before\" class=\"css-0 eagam8p0\"\/><span class=\"css-8lle59 e94w1mj5\">Related Story<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-theme-key=\"title-design-element-after\" class=\"css-0 eagam8p1\"\/><\/h6>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"5\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">During an earnings call on Friday, Wendy\u2019s Interim CEO Ken Cook announced that the company will close 5% to 6% of its U.S. locations this year\u2014roughly 298-358 of its 5,969 stores. This is in addition to the 28 locations that were closed at the end of 2025. While an exact list was not disclosed, Cook said the targeted restaurants are \u201cconsistently underperforming.\u201d By closing these locations, he believes nearby Wendy\u2019s locations will see a boost in sales and profitability.   <\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"watch-next\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-17\" data-node-id=\"6\" class=\"embed\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"7\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">After a roughly 50% decrease in stock value last year, the company rolled out Project Fresh, described in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irwendys.com\/news\/news-details\/2025\/THE-WENDYS-COMPANY-LAUNCHES-PROJECT-FRESH-A-STRATEGIC-PLAN-TO-DRIVE-GROWTH-AND-ENHANCE-VALUE-CREATION\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.irwendys.com\/news\/news-details\/2025\/THE-WENDYS-COMPANY-LAUNCHES-PROJECT-FRESH-A-STRATEGIC-PLAN-TO-DRIVE-GROWTH-AND-ENHANCE-VALUE-CREATION\/default.aspx\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"a press release\" data-node-id=\"7.1\" class=\"body-link css-8bav6j emevuu60\">a press release<\/a> as a \u201ccomprehensive strategic plan designed to revitalize the brand, reignite growth, accelerate profitability across the Wendy\u2019s system and enhance shareholder value.\u201d <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"8\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Wendy\u2019s plans to revamp its restaurants include optimizing labor and operating hours at franchise locations, focusing capital expenditures more efficiently, investing in processes, technology, and training to enhance the customer experience, and revitalizing the brand by engaging consultancy Creed UnCo, led by former Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed.  <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"9\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Will it be enough to turn things around for Wendy\u2019s? Only time will tell.<\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"editorial-link\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-18\" data-node-id=\"10\" class=\"embed\">\n<aside class=\"css-fcvumo e94w1mj1\"\/><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wendy\u2019s Interim CEO Ken Cook announced plans to close up to 358 restaurants nationwide. The closures follow a steep decline in the company\u2019s stock value and are scheduled to take place over the first quarter of the year. The chain will close underperforming locations to help revitalize the brand, alongside [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}