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  • Wendy's might be better known for Frostys than biscuits, but that doesn't mean it's

  • given up on giving its patrons a fresh meal in the morning.

  • From the various menu items that vanished, to where everything is at today, here's the

  • 411 on the fast food chain's rocky breakfast history.

  • Fast food breakfasts aren't typically considered a healthy option.

  • However, Wendy's doesn't totally ignore those who want a nutritional breakfast.

  • Oatmeal may not be the most exciting breakfast but its merits for improving cholesterol have

  • been touted for years.

  • Wendy's serves up plain jane oatmeal made up of the incredibly simple ingredients of

  • oats, water, and cinnamon.

  • If oatmeal's not your thing, you can opt for apple bites, which have only six grams of

  • sugar, and that's about it for healthy options.

  • On the opposite end of the spectrum are plenty of greasy biscuit and croissant sandwiches.

  • And the absolute big boy of Wendy's breakfast is the Breakfast Baconator.

  • This burger masquerading as a breakfast sandwich is 770 calories of bacon, cheese, egg, sausage,

  • and cheese sauce.

  • That's nearly 2,000 milligrams of tasty sodium to start your day!

  • Wendy's has been around since 1969, and for a while it was all just square patty burgers

  • and fries on the menu.

  • It wasn't until 1985 that the chain decided to take a chance and start nationally offering

  • its customers a fast and hot breakfast.

  • Commercials touted Wendy's as the "fresh" option to more lackluster fast food breakfast

  • competitors.

  • The chain spent almost a year testing out its breakfast offerings, and it seemed poised

  • to be a serious competitor to the likes of Burger King and McDonald's.

  • Wendy's new breakfast venture should've been a hit.

  • After all, they were riding high off the popularity of their "Where's the beef?" ad campaign.

  • "Hello?" "Where's the beef?!"

  • But those breakfast aspirations dwindled rather quickly.

  • After just nine months, Wendy's pulled breakfast from most of its 3,450 locations at the time.

  • If franchise owners wanted to serve breakfast, they could, though only about 800 locations

  • decided to keep the menu.

  • Being a fan of Wendy's breakfast has to be frustrating.

  • The chain generally sat out the 1990s morning market, but by the mid-2000s they were ready

  • once again.

  • They began testing breakfast in 2006, but then pulled back on the reins a few years

  • later, explaining that its products weren't meeting quality standards or consumer expectations.

  • Not one to bow out for good, Wendy's began toying with the breakfast idea again in 2012,

  • but then stopped offering its breakfast items at all but around 400 of its 5,800 stores

  • by 2013.

  • This time around, the company worried that its breakfast menu may have been stealing

  • some effort away from its burger offerings.

  • At this point, when Wendy's announces another go at breakfast, it'll be hard not to raise

  • an eyebrow.

  • Wendy's 1980s breakfast experiment may not have been a huge success, but they certainly

  • deserve some credit for thinking outside the box.

  • While other fast food chains were content with biscuits and frozen pancakes, Wendy's

  • wanted to stand out.

  • The secret weapon was omelettes, or at least that was the hope.

  • Fresh, made-to-order omelettes are typically found at diners or hotel buffets.

  • But they're not exactly a food that lends itself well to a fast food drive-thru.

  • Nevertheless, Wendy's tried offering omelettes and quickly found out that they significantly

  • slowed down operations.

  • Founder Dave Thomas told the Los Angeles Times in 1986 that he just couldn't compete with

  • competitors who would just make their items and then put them under a heat lamp.

  • Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a successful Wendy's breakfast program.

  • The chain seems to be improving its breakfast sandwiches with each try, even if they don't

  • last more than a few years.

  • When Wendy's launched the Artisan Egg Sandwich in 2010 it was still going strong six years

  • later, although it ultimately didn't last forever.

  • But then they came out swinging with another well-received item: the Honey Butter Chicken

  • Biscuit.

  • Eater dubbed it "the best breakfast sandwich of all time," and it's still hanging around

  • on the menu into 2019.

  • Wendy's might not yet be winning the breakfast wars, but they do seem to be putting out valiant

  • efforts that are getting noticed.

  • Finding a Wendy's that actually serves breakfast can be a real challenge.

  • In fact, Wendy's is the largest fast food chain that doesn't serve breakfast nationally.

  • The primary reason for this boils down to convenience.

  • If an item isn't portable, it's difficult to sell in the fast food breakfast market.

  • That's not to say that Wendy's current offerings aren't portable, but wedging itself into a

  • commuter's morning routine is difficult.

  • Those Wendy's locations that do serve breakfast are often in places where there's guaranteed

  • foot traffic and people may be more likely to break their usual routine, such as airports.

  • While some franchisees have decided that breakfast is right for their particular market, only

  • two percent of Wendy's sales come from breakfast.

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Wendy's might be better known for Frostys than biscuits, but that doesn't mean it's

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