The Former CEO of Wendy's Ruined the Company, Now A Wendy's Legend is Back

Does anyone remember the "dynamic pricing" controversy a couple years ago? Yeah, that was former Wendy's CEO, Kirk Tanner's doing.

This dumb motherfucker basically ruined the company in 18 months. He was borrowing money to buy back stock at double the price it is today, trying to force AI into things instead of improving the mobile app, tried to implement "dynamic pricing", it's a joke. He had zero restaurant experience prior to joining Wendy's. Not just fast food, no restaurants of any kind. 32 years at Pepsi.

The new CEO, Bob Wright, is an actual killer in the fast food game, and he knows Wendy's inside and out. I wrote more about it in the main DD post but his performance as a fast food executive is exceptional, and he spent 14 years climbing the ladder at Wendy's all the way up to COO. Now he's coming back.

Management is extremely important in restaurants because the industry is competitive and the companies don't really have moats. Any dumbass could come into Visa and probably not fuck it up too bad. But at a restaurant, if you're not getting all the details right people take their business elsewhere.

To breakdown the thesis on Wendy's simply, the stock is cheap, the core brand and product are still great, and the massive upgrade to management is exactly what it needs. And with how cheap the stock is, a return to modest growth is more than enough to get a significant return.