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  • We can all agree that at one point in our lives Wendy’s was tasty AF. We have been

  • intrigued by its square patty and its loveable creator for years. The food chain has been

  • around since 1969 and has managed to keep a loyal following. However, like every fast

  • food chain, Wendy’s has its secrets. Then again, everyone has their secrets and sometimes

  • it’s the secrets that make us love them more. Wendy’s has done nothing but improve

  • themselves year after year. This is why the franchise is still so popular. But, after

  • learning about some of the shady things that this restaurant has been involved in, will

  • it still be as popular? Probably. So, here are the Top 10 Untold Truths about Wendy’s.

  • Wendy’s Chili Is Made Of What?

  • Wendy’s constantly brags about their award-winning chili. However, we have to wonder, should

  • they be bragging at all? After learning some weird facts about the chili, we got to wonder

  • if it should even still be on the menu. It has been reported by the Huffington Post that

  • the company uses silicon dioxide in their chili. So, that grainy look your chili has

  • is probably just that. The chemical we are talking about is also called silica and can

  • be found in quartz and sand. Silicon dioxide also acts as ananti-caking agent”. So,

  • if you are ever wondering why your chili never clumps and always has that watery, ‘fresh

  • look to it, this is why. But, don’t hate on Wendy’s too much for using an anti-caking

  • agent because chances are several other fast food places use it too. Really, even regular

  • restaurants probably use it too. We will admit though, that whole sand-looking thing is kind

  • of crazy. We truly assumed that it was seasoning or maybe super small pieces of ground beef.

  • But sand and quartz? That is a whole other level.

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  • Wendy’s Founder In A Commercial

  • The founder of Wendy’s Dave Thomas was deep into retirement when he decided to come back

  • and help the brand. They were having a bit of a hard time keeping up with the other fast

  • food chains. They weren’t as popular as McDonald's or Burger King or even Jack In

  • The Box. so ride or die Thomas wasn’t about to let his legacy go down in flames. He resigned

  • in 1982 but when the popularWhere’s The Beef?” campaign ended in 1985, the company

  • needed a facelift. Always a dedicated employee of his own company, Thomas came out of retirement

  • to help out. He didn’t jump into commercials right away he started off small by visiting

  • a few restaurants first. He did the whole taking pictures with fans, kissing babies

  • kind of thing. In 1989, he became the official spokesperson and from there he spent a majority

  • of the 90s representing the brand. He actually appeared in more than 800 commercials for

  • Wendy’s before going back into retirement. Thomas eventually passed away in 2002 from

  • a tumor that he had been battling for about 10 years. It ultimately spread to his liver

  • and took his life. However, at the time of his passing, there were 6,000 Wendy’s restaurant

  • locations around the US and Canada. So at the very least, his legacy is secured.

  • Wendy’s Is A Bit Dicey When It Comes To The LGBTQ Community

  • We all know that before Ellen DeGeneres had this insanely popular talk show, she had a

  • sitcom. It was called Ellen and it had some pretty decent ratings. Then, DeGeneres came

  • out and let’s just say, all hell broke loose. In addition to her show being pulled, the

  • actor was blacklisted and treated as a social pariah. And one of the organizations that

  • bailed on DeGeneres and her show was the restaurant chain Wendy’s. Wendy’s pulled all their

  • support from the show which to be honest was really only advertising during commercial

  • breaks. Regardless, without good ads and a lack of support, the show went under rather

  • quickly. The LGBTQ community quickly boycotted the food chain. We have to be honest, we never

  • took founder Dave Thomas to be a hater. He has such a loving and accepting face. So,

  • we have a hard time believing he had a hand in this. We think it was more so whoever took

  • over. That being said, he was the face of the company and took most of the backlash.

  • This isn’t the first or the last time a restaurant chain decided to put their controversial

  • views out there. And, this isn’t the first or last time that a mass of people will boycott

  • them for doing so.  

  • Wendy’s Had The First Dollar Menu

  • McDonald's dollar menu is probably one of the most common and most loved of all the

  • dollar menus. Burger King is probably coming in second. However, most people don’t know

  • that it was Wendy’s that pioneered the popularity of the dollar menu in the first place. The

  • franchise first started their dollar menu in 1989. Back then it wasn't known as a dollar

  • menu. It was just a menu where every item costs the same price; 99 cents. Wendy’s

  • also didn’t call their menu the dollar menu and they still don’t. They actually called

  • it their Value Menu. So, in 1998, Burger King decided to follow suit and then in 2002, McDonald's

  • jumped on the bandwagon as well. Better late than never right? Wendy’s still has a Value

  • Menu but it’s now called theEveryday Value Menu”. We aren’t really sure the

  • every daywas needed but, okay. The menu has even upgraded itself from when it

  • originally started (well we would hope so anyway). They have nachos, nuggets, wraps,

  • hearty burgers that are actually dressed as regular burgers (with tomatoes, lettuce, etc).

  • They even have their signature Frosty on there. There is no question that they are still in

  • the running for one of the best dollar menus out there. You can actually get a whole meal

  • for $5 and some change.

  • Wendy’s Original Location Is No More

  • In 2007, the original Wendy’s location was closed. It was located in Columbus, Ohio which

  • is where Dave Thomas was born and raised. The location was open for 38 years. However,

  • once they merged with Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons there’s a significant drop in

  • sales. The decision was eventually made to just close the doors and let it go. Dare we

  • accuse the popular Canadian coffee chain of ruining the founding Wendy’s location? It

  • seems somewhat rash to just get rid of the first ever Wendy’s spot. One would assume

  • that there should have been a bigger fight to keep it open. Maybe even make it a historical

  • site. It’s clearly too late for all that now but we have to wonder if any of that came

  • into discussion when the decision was being made to shut it down. The building was also

  • eventually knocked down and rebuilt. It cost $1.7 million to renovate and it’s now the

  • headquarters of the city’s Catholic Foundation. We really thought that Ohio would rally around

  • a place that kind of put them on the map. However, we can’t blame them, there are

  • so many other, tasty food chains. We can understand why and how Wendy’s fell by the wayside

  • in this case.

  • Wendy’s Breakfast?

  • Did you know that Wendy’s serves breakfast? We sure didn’t. Apparently, starting in

  • 1985 Wendy’s debuted their breakfast menu. It was an epic flop and the company decided

  • to just stick with burgers and fries oh and Frosty’s too. In 2007, they decided to give

  • it another go. BecauseWhy not? McDonald's has breakfast, Burger King has breakfast.

  • Even Taco Bell has breakfast. Yet, they failed again but this time instead of cutting all

  • restaurants off of their luxurious breakfast, they decided to give a handful of restaurants

  • the pleasure of continuing to serve it. About a dozen restaurants scattered throughout the

  • US currently serve the breakfast menu. So, what does it consist of? Biscuit sandwiches,

  • breakfast burritos, muffins, and hash browns. It does sound kind of lackluster. And to be

  • honest, the bread for the sandwiches looks kind of dry. They also recently rolled out

  • a panini though. The good thing about their breakfast is that it tends to be lower calorie

  • and according to loyal eaters, It always comes out fresh. Due to lack of interest, it is

  • made on demand during the breakfast hours. We can only assume that this is the best it

  • will get for this brand and their breakfast. At least they know how to quit while theyre

  • ahead.

  • Wendy's Kind Of Invented The Drive-Thru

  • Back in 1971 Wendys was ahead of their time. They came up with this crazy idea that would

  • allow people to not have to leave their car to get their food. We now know it as a drive-thru.

  • Every fast food place has one and some places that aren’t even fast food has figured out

  • how to utilize this invention. It looks like Dave Thomas was really trying to be the first

  • for everything. McDonald’s didn’t catch onto the drive-thru window until about 1975.

  • There is still a debate as to who really invented the first drive-thru window though. Some folks

  • say it was a place called the Pig Stand way back in 1931. The founder saw the need for

  • a faster way to serve his customers and of course, he found a way that worked for him.

  • Then in the 1950s both Jack In The Box and Burger King experimented with the idea. However,

  • they found it too complicated and it didn’t work. So they jumped ship pretty quick. By

  • the time Wendy’s rolled around and took control of the idea they had managed to perfect

  • it. Well, perfect it for them anyways. Theyve been utilizing

  • it since.

  • Letters To Wendy’s

  • Wendy’s has a book. Well, not Wendy’s but it’s written by a man obsessed with

  • Wendy’s. His name is Joe Wenderoth and the book is calledLetters To Wendy’s”

  • he took it upon himself to write an entire novel based off of four things. Burgers, Frosties,

  • erotica, and consumerism. Yes, because all those things naturally go together, obviously.

  • According to Amazon.com, the book is pretty interesting. The reviews range from love to

  • confusion. “Letters to Wendy’s is an outrageous, tragic, genre-bending novel written over the

  • course of a year on comment cards from the fast-food chain restaurant Wendy’s. Through

  • the letters, the book traces a year in the life and thoughts of an unnamed narrator obsessed

  • not only by Biggies and Frosties, but also by consumerism, pornography, and mortality”.

  • We have a few questions about this book. How does the franchise feel about this? Wenderoth

  • is associating their restaurant with salacious things like adult content. He is also mixing

  • it into consumerism and he is doing this all on Wendy’s comment cards. The book was released

  • in 2004. The author, Wenderoth has gone on to write a few other books but we have a feeling

  • he will forever be known for writing a book about a fast food chain.

  • Wendy’s Fired An Old Lady

  • Wendy’s has had one of the most popular advertising campaigns of all time. We all

  • know it, have seen it or at the very least, heard about it. TheWhere’s The Beef

  • campaign dominated the 80s. Even to this day, society still references it. And Wendy’s,

  • of course, saw an increase in sales. The campaign featured this adorable, little, old lady named

  • Clara Peller. She was 84-years-old and had been chosen to do the campaign after randomly

  • auditioning. However, after a year of going hard for Wendy’s, she was fired. In 1985,

  • after Peller decided she was super famous, she appeared in another commercial and Wendy’s

  • wasn’t having it. It wasn’t just any commercial it was a commercial for Prego spaghetti sauce.

  • In addition to that betrayal, in the commercial, she actually said she hadfinally found

  • the beef. That was a straight up dig and of course, it backfired on her. The actress went

  • on to keep a little bit of her fame and eventually passed away in 1987. For a little old lady,

  • she certainly had a lot of drama in her later life. At least she went out with a bang that’s

  • more than other people her age can say.

  • Wendy’s Has A Secret Menu

  • Want to try something out of the ordinary? Well, Wendy’s may be able to help you because

  • they have a secret menu. Like many food establishments, their secret menu has a lot going on. According

  • to employees, some of the secret menu items include; a one-pound Meat Cube burger and

  • a Barnyard Burger which has beef, bacon, and chicken in it. The secret menu items are pretty

  • protein packed. A lot of them have 2 to 3 different meats on one sandwich. Clearly,

  • this can be highly caloric. But, because you can control a lot of what happens to your

  • secret menu options, you can get a lighter sandwich and still be satisfied. One of those

  • sandwiches is called the Valley Crispy Chicken Sandwich. It comes with mayo, tomato, lettuce,

  • and bacon. We also assume that you can ask for grilled chicken if you are trying to stick

  • to a diet. And like we mentioned there’s also the sandwich called theMeat Cube”.

  • It’s worth noting because quite frankly it sounds like it can’t be healthy for anyone.

  • It’s one pound of meat and to make matters even worse, there is cheese in between each

  • slice. Come on, you know you want to try it or at least watch someone else try it, so

  • you can avoid the heart attack.

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We can all agree that at one point in our lives Wendy’s was tasty AF. We have been

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