Dive Brief:
- Wendy’s expects to increase its store count by net 1,000 restaurants globally by the end of 2028, the company said in a press release accompanying its Investor Day on Thursday. The chain’s long-term annual net unit growth is 3% to 4%.
- That rate of growth would bring Wendy’s global system to between 8,100 and 8,300 stores at the end of 2028. The fast food chain had 7,240 units at the end of 2024.
- Wendy’s will support this unit goal through a combination of domestic and international growth, with its international development focused on “globalizing its supply chain to build stronghold positions,” the company said.
Dive Insight:
It’s worth noting that in 2021, Wendy’s projected a global unit count between 8,500 and 9,000 for this year — a bigger goal than what’s currently set for 2028. Reef Technology’s ghost kitchen trailers were intended to fuel that growth, Wendy’s abandoned Reef’s model as a development driver beginning in 2022, as consumers largely shunned ghost kitchens and unit economics proved disappointing.
Competitors are also looking to expand unit growth; Taco Bell recently announced it wanted to roughly triple its international storecount by the end of the decade.
International unit growth was particularly strong for Wendy’s in 2024, CEO Kirk Tanner said on the chain’s Q4 earnings call. The company opened 276 units globally last year.
“Internationally, we achieved 11% system-wide sales growth on a constant currency basis led by strong net unit growth,” Tanner said.
In 2024, same-store sales growth in international units was only 2.8%, indicating the bulk of its sales growth internationally came from the opening of new units. That sales strength made international a focus for the brand in 2025.
“We expect to open between 150 and 200 new units in 2025. About two-thirds of those will come from international markets,” Tanner said. “Within that international bucket, I'd expect about one-third coming from a combination of Canada and Europe. We'd expect about half coming from [Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa].”
If that split stays consistent across the next few years, Wendy’s would add about 330 net new units in the U.S. and about 660 abroad.
The chain began opening locations built to the standards of its Global Next Gen prototype in 2023. Those units feature a lower buildout cost and are designed to speed up operations, both of which could increase the company’s rate of development.
