DUBLIN, Ohio -- It’s been 42 years since Wendy’s revamped its burger. But Monday’s launch of the new Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy, named after the late founder Dave Thomas, was nearly three years in the making.
Among the changes: more cheese, a thicker patty, crinkled pickles over plain, and red onions instead of white. As competition from the burger segment intensifies, the change couldn’t have come at a better time.
Wendy’s finds itself pinned between segment leaders such as McDonald’s on one side and entrepreneurial newcomers such as Five Guys on the other. It was high time for the company to make changes to its burger--which hadn’t been touched since 1969.
"We have a lot of catching up to do in some areas," Gerard Lewis, Wendy's head of new product development told the Associated Press. "But after we launch this hamburger there will be folks who need to catch up to us."
Project Gold Hamburger started around early 2009, according to the Associated Press. Anxious to reverse its decline in sales, Wendy's polled more than 10,000 people about what they wanted in a burger. Surveys showed that people like Wendy's food, but thought the brand hadn't kept up with the times. So, executives were shipped off to eat at burger joints around the country to measure burger characteristics like fatty flavor, salty flavor and whether the bun fell apart.
"I've traveled more with this burger than I have in my entire life," said Shelly Thobe, Wendy's director of hamburgers and new platforms.
From there, the chain tackled its own burger, ingredient by ingredient. With every step, researchers checked with consumers to make sure they were on the right track.
Many suggestions sounded good but didn't pan out. They tried green-leaf lettuce, but people preferred keeping iceberg because of its crunchiness. They thought about making the tomato slices thicker but didn't want to ask franchisees to buy new slicing equipment. A pickle chemist came in to help with the plain-or-crinkled debate. They even tested a round burger--eventually opting for a “natural square,” whose wavy edged tasters found less processed-looking the Wendy’s traditional square patty.
Eventually, a new-and-improved burger began to take shape. Tasters said they wanted a thicker burger, so Wendy's started packing the meat more loosely, trained cooks to press down on the patties two times instead of eight and printed "Handle Like Eggs" on the boxes that the patties were shipped in so they wouldn't get smashed. And Wendy's researchers knew that customers wanted warmer and crunchier buns, so they decided that buttering them and then toasting them was the way to go.
In the end, Wendy's changed everything but the ketchup. It switched to whole-fat mayonnaise, nixed the mustard, and cut down on the pickles and onions--all to emphasize the flavor of the beef. The chain also started storing the cheese at higher temperatures so it would melt better, a change that required federal approval.
According to the AP, prices for Wendy’s burgers will likely increase to compensate for the higher-priced ingredients, maybe by 10 or 20 cents. Franchisees set their own prices, though. A Wendy's near the Dublin headquarters, which was selling the new burgers last week, charges $3.49 for the quarter-pound, $4.69 for the half-pound, and $5.79 for the three-quarters pound.
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