Wendy’s CEO Calls ‘26 a ‘Rebuilding Year’ as the Stock Tumbles

3 days ago 9

Jeremy Berke

Wed, February 18, 2026 astatine 9:18 AM CST 1 min read

Wendy’s CEO Calls ‘26 a ‘Rebuilding Year’ arsenic the Stock Tumbles

Wendy’s tagline whitethorn beryllium ever fresh, ne'er frozen, but it appears its income are not caller and highly frozen arsenic the burger concatenation shutters hundreds of stores crossed the U.S. arsenic consumers shift, to, well, different options.

CEO Ken Cook took a leafage retired of the wide manager of the Charlotte Hornets’ playbook telling shareholders connected Friday that 2026 volition beryllium a “rebuilding year,” arsenic the fast-food concatenation embarks connected its Project Fresh turnaround project. Same-store income declined implicit 11% arsenic consumers consciousness the pinch successful their wallets from persistent inflation. Under the aptly named Cook, the institution wants to instrumentality its absorption to “value,” which we anticipation inactive means ever caller patties.

“Learning from 2025 astir value, we swung the pendulum excessively acold towards limited-time terms promotions alternatively of mundane value,” helium said. The banal got slammed connected Tuesday, falling astir 7%. It’s down astir 14% this year.

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Wendy’s appears to beryllium taking a leafage retired of its large member McDonald’s playbook, which has been connected the other way this year. McDonald’s same-store income roseate astir 7% during the fourth-quarter, the biggest leap successful 2 years, which CEO Chris Kempczinski said was due to the fact that of the company’s absorption connected providing worth to customers. But McDonald’s has standard wherever Wendy’s doesn’t, meaning that it’s apt to suffer a terms war.

So Wendy’s issues look to beryllium deeper than a elemental selling problem. It’s not wide whether slapping unneurotic a worth paper volition lure customers from the Golden Arches backmost to Wendy’s pigtails, but Cook is going to effort his hardest.

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