Wendy's is classing it up with a new line of Black Label Burgers—tagline,
"The perfect harmony of signature taste and select ingredients"—currently being tested in Wichita, Kansas, and Columbus, Ohio. The quarter-pound burgers come in Bacon Portabella (with mushroom sauce, muenster cheese, three half-slices of bacon, thick tomato slice, and peppery sauce; $4.89) and Spicy Santa Fe (with guacamole, pepper jack cheese, mixed salad greens, thick tomato slice, red onion slices, and cilantro jalapeño lime sauce; $4.49), says GrubGrade.
The melted cheese on top—this sandwich's claim to modest fame—tastes like ballpark nacho sauce. It might as well be melted American with an extra shake of salt, but it's a welcome addition simply by virtue of being warm, unlike the slice of cold yellow cheese underneath the burger.
After leaving the Japanese market in 2009, Wendy's reopened in Japan yesterday with its first location in Omotesando, an upscale shopping district in Tokyo, and has plans to eventually open 700 locations in Japan, reports Businessweek. With the grand opening comes a new line of Japan Premium items, most prominently a foie gras-topped burger called the Foie Gras Rossini for ¥1280 (about $16.50).
Three months after coming with their newest burger, the Hot 'N Juicy, Wendy's is releasing another burger, The W, in December. The burger will feature two 2.25-ounce patties, two slices of cheese, red onion, tomato, crinkle-cut pickles, and special sauce—looking like a smaller version of a double-patty Hot 'N Juicy. It will sell for $2.99, a price that falls between Wendy's value menu and the Hot 'N Juicy. [via Business First, AP]
Change is tough. When I learned that Wendy's intended to introduce new burgers, I felt a mixture of excitement and trepidation. "It seems like they're trying to make thicker burgers to compete with Five Guys," someone said to me. Wendy's has struggled with new products like their breakfast, so I was very interested in trying their new Hot 'N Juicy burgers.
Dave's Hot 'N Juicy, the new burger Wendy's announced last November, is now available nationwide. The burger, named after founder Dave Thomas, features "thicker beef patties, toasted and buttered buns, and upgraded ingredients like crinkle-cut pickles and red onions," says Nation's Restaurant News. The burger comes with one to three quarter-pound patties.
Wendy's Bacon Mushroom Melt has garnered somewhat of a cult following. Dating back to the '90s, it has disappeared and reappeared from menus across the country. I found this one in Orange, New Jersey, not more than three weeks ago. As it turns out, there's no information on the Wendy's website. Hopefully, this post will flush out some more data on a burger as elusive, it would seem, as the McRib of yore.
From social media consultant Jason Falls comes this chart illustrating reception of major burger brands in social media based on volume of conversation, sentiment, and passion, using data pulled by ConsumerBase. In-N-Out had the most volume, but came in second for positive chatter right behind Five Guys. White Castle was the most polarizing between love and hate, and Wendy's was most disliked, although not passionately so. Read more at Falls' site, Social Media Explorer.
Earlier this month Wendy's announced they're introducing a new premium burger called Dave's Hot 'N Juicy Cheeseburger, named after founder Dave Thomas, and switching their fries to natural-cut skin-on fries made with Russett potatoes and sprinkled with sea salt....
