Wendy's 2024 Global Franchise Convention Recap

Stepping into the role of The Wendy’s Company CEO in February 2024 was a phenomenal opportunity to lead this iconic brand. Two weeks ago, I experienced my first Franchise Convention, and I’m feeling incredibly inspired by the path ahead.  

The event brought together nearly 2,000 people from across the Wendy’s® global System, giving me a chance to celebrate, connect with and hear directly from our top performing general managers (GMs), franchisees and suppliers who play a critical role in how we put the customer first every day around the world. During the time spent together, our leadership team shared our vision and plan for accelerating Wendy’s growth and a path forward to reach our full potential. 

A Winning Mindset 

To kick off Convention, I shared my thoughts on the importance of passion – from our crew members, franchisees, Company restaurant support teams, and our customers. After seven months in this role, I have been asked “Why Wendy’s?” countless times. Our commitment to quality food and integrity, as well as our passionate franchisees and team members, and ultimately the vast potential for this brand are what attracted me to Wendy’s.  

As we look ahead, we are focused on continuing to build love for Wendy’s by delivering on our new brand promise – Fresh Famous Food… Made Right… For You – every time, in every restaurant, for every customer, every day. 

This is our promise to our customers and a renewed promise to ourselves to provide a high-quality service experience complete with hot, fresh-made food just the way you like it. It also means that we’re doubling down on executing operational excellence in all Wendy’s restaurants to ensure a consistent experience for our customers whether they visit a Wendy’s in Cambridge, Ohio or Cambridge, England.  

Empowering Our Teams 

Our GMs are the heartbeat of the Wendy’s System – they are critical to delivering on our promise to our customers. This year, we celebrated our global Top 200 GMs, which include the top 3% across our System. Our Top GMs are the best of the best, with restaurants leading in sales performance, customer count, overall satisfaction scores and speed of service.  

I was impressed by a story about Erna, one of our Top GMs, who delighted customers by throwing a special birthday party for their child at Wendy’s with exceptional care. Erna made magic happen by coordinating a surprise appearance from “Wendy” who sang happy birthday to the 7-year-old when the cake came out. The customer went out of her way to thank Erna for making her child’s experience special and memorable. GMs like Erna are our local heroes. There is so much that happens behind the scenes to deliver on the brand promise, thanks to the leadership of GMs like Erna.  

Giving Back  

During Wendy’s Family Night, franchisees, suppliers, along with Wendy’s Company and Quality Supply Chain Co-Op (QSCC^SM) employees gathered to fundraise $2 million to support the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption® (the Foundation).  

For more than 30 years, Wendy’s has supported the Foundation and its mission to help find permanent, loving homes for children in foster care. To date, the Foundation has helped find forever families for more than 14,000 children across the U.S. and Canada and I was delighted to recently join the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. 

I am touched by the incredible impact the Foundation has on the lives of children and families, which was highlighted in a story shared on stage during Family Night from Olympic athlete, Kenny Bednarek. Kenny credits his success and road to self-discovery out of a need for belonging, that was met by having his adopted family by his side every step of the way. He has since become a partner of the Foundation to raise awareness and promote stability for all children.  

As I reflect on this year’s Convention, I feel thankful for the time spent with my team, franchisees and suppliers, and I’m energized and excited about the road ahead. It’s a true honor to lead this great brand and to partner with our global franchise System to reach our full potential and deliver Fresh Famous Food… Made Right… For You.