People are increasingly thinking twice before hitting the drive-thru, and Wendy’s is starting to feel that restraint in its earnings. The Ohio-based company plans to close between 5% and 6% of its restaurants in the first half of the year.
After already closing 28 U.S. restaurants in the latter part of 2025 and ending the year with 5,969 U.S. locations, Wendy’s will shutter roughly 298 to 358 locations by mid-2026, the burger chain announced Friday.
“One learning from 2025 around value, we swung the pendulum too far towards limited-time price promotions instead of everyday value,” said Ken Cook, Wendy’s interim CEO and chief financial officer, in a conference call with investors.
Why Is Wendy’s Closing Stores?
The short version is that sales are sliding, and the fourth quarter looked ugly. Wendy’s reported that U.S. same-restaurant sales fell 11.3% in Q4 2025, and same-store sales were down 5.6% for the full year. The company also reported that global systemwide sales fell 8.3% in Q4 and 3.5% for the full year, and it framed the closures as part of its “Project Fresh” turnaround plan.
Where Is Wendy’s Closing Restaurants?
The company hasn’t released a list of which locations are affected, but Cook said they are making “store-by-store” decisions to close “consistently underperforming restaurants.”
What Is The Company Doing Next?
In January, Wendy’s expanded and positioned its value lineup as permanent tiers: $4 Biggie Bites, $6 Biggie Bag, and an $8 Biggie Bundle. Wendy’s also pointed to menu “innovation” as part of its 2026 plan, while noting some recent product launches have performed well even during the slump.
What Do People Say?
People are not shocked by the news of Wendy’s closing stores, with some applauding the decision to make the value menu permanent.
“They’re closing hundreds of stores but keeping the value menu because that’s the only thing keeping people coming back,” wrote one user on Reddit. “Nobody’s paying $15 for a burger combo when you can get better food at a sit-down restaurant for the same price.”
Others are not buying it, saying the value deals are less of a deal and more of a rip-off.
“Their new ‘value’ menu increasingly is a joke,” pointed out one Redditor. What used to be a 4 for $4 is $6, and that’s if you can even find a participating location these days. Many locations sell it for $2 more now, so it’s $8 for what, under two years ago, was $4.”
Do you think Wendy’s is losing its value? Let us know in the comments.
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