On Tuesday, Wendy’s announced that it would be partnering with its chicken suppliers to use 20 percent smaller birds “far surpassing the standards of other restaurants brands,” according to a company press release. “This change will significantly and immediately improve the tenderness and juiciness of chicken for Wendy’s U.S.-based customers,” the company said.
Wendy’s said it is making a nearly $30-million system-wide investment to implement the change to smaller birds across all U.S. Wendy’s restaurants. “The quality of our food sets us apart from everyone else,” said Todd Penegor, president and CEO at Wendy’s “We’re making this change because we’ve seen that smaller birds provide a big benefit for our customers who deserve to eat the most tender and juicy chicken.”
“Wendy’s suppliers are working hand-in-hand with the brand’s supply chain co-op, quality assurance and animal welfare experts to implement the changes across the entire U.S. supply of Wendy’s premium chicken breasts through the second quarter of 2017 and all suppliers are already raising birds to the new specifications,” according to the press release.
In 2016, Wendys announced its commitment to eliminate the use of all antibiotics important to human medicine in its chicken by the end of 2017. Wendy’s restaurants in Canada already source small birds.
