2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Joe Hoeffner)
In 1989, twenty years after , the burger wars had kicked into high gear. Titans like McDonald's and Burger King were offering flagship items for a mere 99 cents ($2.49 in 2024 money).
These weren't even super-niche special promotions, these were just the normal prices anyone could pay. Wendy's had to do something bold, something to set itself apart from the competition instead of just playing the game on its rivals' terms. That's why Wendy's intentionally developed the first value menu so that customers could build an entire meal out of cheaper items.
What's better than selling a burger for 99 cents? How about a whole menu of 99 cent items? Not just the burger, but fries and a drink as well. It took a bit for customers to catch on, but once the Value Menu was renamed to the 99 Cent Menu, it caught on quickly. Other fast food chains have since developed their own .
Wendy's Value Menu was grounded in business sense Wendy's value menu must have seemed like a huge risk at the time. They weren't just offering rinky-dink items that couldn't fill anybody up. Although the exact lineup rotated regularly, you were able to build filling meals out of just about every iteration of the value menu.
For just one example, you could order a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, a "BIGGIE" order of fries, and a Frosty and it would come out to less than five dollars. It also offered sides like a garden salad and a loaded baked potato. What were they, desperate or something? Quite the opposite, in fact.
While Wendy's rotated various menu items in and out of the value menu, one thing they didn't touch was the price of their marquee items. While McDonald's and Burger King practically gave away their Big Macs and Whoppers, Wendy's never lowered the price of its equivalent hamburger, Dave's Single (or Double, or Triple). That allowed them to still make reliable money, even with the presence of the Value Menu.
It's one of those happy instances where both the business and the customer walk away satisfied. Unfortunately, with fast food prices surging through the roof in recent years, there are to offer up these value prices. Recommended.
