Will Wendy’s strategy to promote their mobile app and a new DoorDash delivery option create more sales? As they initiate these improvements, they are also keeping an eye on customer satisfaction.
The Wendy’s Co. has begun investing a planned $25 million this year to strengthen the burger brand’s digital capabilities.
The Dublin, Ohio-based company intends to make its restaurants easier to operate and its customers more loyal with the digital platforms.
They launched the unified Wendy's app, initiated the rollout of mobile ordering, began using mobile offers.
They choose to use DoorDash, and have rolled out delivery to 60 percent of its North American stores and expects to grow that to 80 percent by the end of 2019.
About $15 million of the digital investments will go into a partnership with Accenture, the management consulting firm, and another $10 million will be for digital scanners for the North American system.
They can not only take the orders faster, but we can actually get people out fast and accurate, and that can be a big differentiator.
They believe that technology can drive frequency as we better connect to that consumer and create a better, more consistent service experience with them day-in and day-out.
Wendy’s will continue to promote downloads of its smartphone app and to increase the number of monthly active users of mobile offers.
Wendy’s will continue its barbell pricing on the menu, with some premium items and lower-priced value items.
Wendy’s net income, which accommodated a special reserve for a proposed legal settlement, fell to $18.8 million in the 4th Quarter, or eight cents a share.
Revenues increased 28.6 percent to $397.8 million from $309.2 million in the same quarter last year.
Same-store sales in the quarter at North American restaurants were up 0.2 percent, compared to a 1.3 percent increase in the same period last year.
Wendy’s said it had entered into a settlement agreement for a class-action lawsuit brought by financial institutions after criminal cyberattacks that targeted point-of-sale systems of Wendy's franchisees in 2015 and 2016.
Wendy’s and its franchisees agreed to pay about $27.5 million of a $50 million settlement, part of which was covered by insurance. The proposed settlement anticipates the payment would occur in late 2019.
Wendy's, founded in 1969, has 6,700 restaurants globally.