News

Wendy's aims at fast casual competition with new salads

March 10, 2014

Wendy's has introduced two new permanent salad offerings — the Asian Cashew Chicken Salad and BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad.

"Wendy's is a leader in the salad business and we are very excited to raise the bar even higher," CMO Craig Bahner said in a news release. "Our latest premium salad innovations feature unique fusions of flavor, made with high-quality, contemporary ingredients. And as always, our salads are freshly prepared every day in our restaurants. These two new additions to our salad line prove, once again, that we are serious about elevating our salad line."

The full-size Asian Cashew Chicken Salad has 380 calories, while the half-size salad has 240 calories. It features Asian-inspired ingredients such as fire-roasted edamame, sliced red peppers, spicy roasted cashews and a light spicy Asian chili vinaigrette made with chili garlic sauce, roasted peanuts, soy sauce, lime juice and brown sugar. The salad also includes sliced cucumbers, a lettuce blend made up of 11 different kinds of field greens, and is topped with a grilled chicken breast fillet, the release said.

The BBQ Chicken Salad includes fire-roasted corn, diced tomatoes and Applewood Smoked bacon. It is served with a BBQ Ranch dressing, made with real buttermilk, parmesan cheese, ancho chili pepper, honey and brown sugar. Finally, it is topped with a warm, grilled chicken breast fillet and drizzled with a honey barbeque sauce and cheddar cheese.

"When it comes to salads, consumers don't want to compromise. They want great new tastes and nutritious options. They want high quality ingredients but at a fair price," Bahner said. "In fact, these salads cost about 25 percent less than our fast casual competitors."

These new salads join the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad and Spicy Chicken Caesar Salad as permanent menu items, replacing the Baja Salad and the Chicken BLT Cobb.

The BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad is available for a recommended price of $6.19 for the full-size and $4.19 for the half-size. The Asian Cashew Chicken Salad is available for a recommended price of $5.99 for the full-size and $3.99 for the half-size.

Garden side salad makeover
Wendy's is also updating its Garden Side Salad by adding sliced cucumber and red peppers. The side Salad now includes five ingredients — the restaurant's lettuce blend, grape tomatoes, croutons, cucumber and red pepper with a choice of dressing. It will keep the same recommended price of $1.59.

"Menu innovation is a central part of our brand transformation that we intend to continue to execute at a high level in 2014 to grow sales and profits," Bahner said.