# Wendy's Co (WEN)

Informational only - not investment advice.

CIK: 0000030697
SIC: 5810 Retail-Eating & Drinking Places
SIC breadcrumb: [Retail Trade](/division/G/) > [Eating And Drinking Places](/major-group/58/) > [SIC 5810 Retail-Eating & Drinking Places](/industry/5810/)
Latest 10-K filed: 2026-02-23
SEC page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=30697
Filing source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/30697/000003069726000009/wen-20251228.htm

## At a glance

FY2025 · period end 2025-12-28 · filed 2026-02-23 · accession 0000030697-26-000009 · source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000030697.json

| Metric | Value | FY | Provenance |
| --- | ---: | ---: | --- |
| Revenue | 2,176,891,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Net income | 165,075,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Assets | 4,956,561,000 USD | 2025 | verified |
| Free cash flow | 242,616,000 USD | 2025 | computed |
| Net margin | 7.58% | 2025 | computed |
| Operating margin | 15.78% | 2025 | computed |
| Revenue YoY | -3.10% | 2025 | computed |
| ROE | 140.63% | 2025 | computed |

Computed values are grepcent-computed from the verified facts above and may differ from ratios the company itself reports. Free cash flow = operating cash flow − capital expenditures. Net margin = net income ÷ revenue. Operating margin = operating income ÷ revenue. Revenue YoY = FY2025 revenue ÷ FY2024 revenue − 1 (consecutive fiscal years only). ROE = net income ÷ period-end stockholders' equity.

Peer groups: [Restaurants and food-service operators](/compare/restaurants/) · SIC 5810 Retail-Eating & Drinking Places

No market price, no rating, no forecast on this site. Not investment advice.

## Peer comparisons including WEN

- Restaurants and food-service operators: [peer review](/compare/restaurants/) · [market-risk page](/compare/restaurants/risk/)

### Peer percentile fingerprint

| Ratio | WEN | Peer median | Percentile | N |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Net margin | 7.6% | 3.5% | 80 | 31 |
| Operating margin | 15.8% | 5.0% | 82 | 29 |
| Revenue growth | -3.1% | 5.4% | 10 | 31 |
| FCF margin | 11.1% | 4.1% | 80 | 31 |
| ROE | 140.6% | 8.7% | 100 | 23 |
| ROA | 3.3% | 2.7% | 53 | 31 |
| Liabilities / equity | 41.23 | 2.37 | 95 | 23 |
| Current ratio | 1.76 | 0.95 | 80 | 31 |

Percentile = share of the N covered peers reporting that ratio whose value is lower (ties counted half); computed among grepcent-covered companies in SIC major-group 58 Eating And Drinking Places, not the whole market. A higher percentile means a higher value of the ratio, not a better company. Ratios with fewer than 8 reporting peers are omitted. Latest reported values per company; fiscal periods may differ. Descriptive arithmetic - not a score, rating, or ranking.

## Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
| --- | ---: | --- | ---: | --- |
| Revenue | 2176891000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-23 |
| Net income | 165075000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-23 |
| Assets | 4956561000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-23 |

## Financials

Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-23. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000030697.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.

| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Revenue | 1,435,418,000 | 1,223,408,000 | 1,589,936,000 | 1,709,002,000 | 1,733,825,000 | 1,896,998,000 | 2,095,505,000 | 2,181,578,000 | 2,246,492,000 | 2,176,891,000 |
| Net income | 129,624,000 | 194,029,000 | 460,115,000 | 136,940,000 | 117,832,000 | 200,392,000 | 177,370,000 | 204,440,000 | 194,357,000 | 165,075,000 |
| Operating income | 314,780,000 | 214,758,000 | 249,892,000 | 262,579,000 | 269,308,000 | 366,960,000 | 353,314,000 | 381,984,000 | 371,359,000 | 343,452,000 |
| Diluted EPS | 0.49 | 0.77 | 1.88 | 0.58 | 0.52 | 0.89 | 0.82 | 0.97 | 0.95 | 0.85 |
| Operating cash flow | 193,825,000 | 238,793,000 | 224,228,000 | 288,933,000 | 284,361,000 | 345,772,000 | 259,904,000 | 345,416,000 | 355,307,000 | 344,543,000 |
| Capital expenditures | 150,023,000 | 81,710,000 | 69,857,000 | 74,453,000 | 68,969,000 | 77,984,000 | 85,544,000 | 85,021,000 | 94,388,000 | 101,927,000 |
| Dividends paid | 63,832,000 | 68,322,000 | 80,532,000 | 96,364,000 | 64,866,000 | 94,846,000 | 106,779,000 | 209,253,000 | 204,443,000 | 129,587,000 |
| Share buybacks | 336,958,000 | 126,231,000 | 269,809,000 | 217,797,000 | 62,173,000 | 268,531,000 | 51,950,000 | 189,554,000 | 77,375,000 | 200,766,000 |
| Assets | 3,939,314,000 | 4,096,938,000 | 4,292,035,000 | 4,994,529,000 | 5,040,006,000 | 5,101,391,000 | 5,499,344,000 | 5,182,826,000 | 5,034,843,000 | 4,956,561,000 |
| Liabilities | 3,411,578,000 | 3,523,735,000 | 3,643,586,000 | 4,478,170,000 | 4,490,410,000 | 4,664,986,000 | 5,033,624,000 | 4,873,047,000 | 4,775,491,000 | 4,839,178,000 |
| Stockholders' equity | 527,736,000 | 573,203,000 | 648,449,000 | 516,359,000 | 549,596,000 | 436,405,000 | 465,720,000 | 309,779,000 | 259,352,000 | 117,383,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 198,240,000 | 171,447,000 | 431,405,000 | 300,195,000 | 306,989,000 | 249,438,000 | 745,889,000 | 516,037,000 | 450,512,000 | 300,833,000 |
| Free cash flow | 43,802,000 | 157,083,000 | 154,371,000 | 214,480,000 | 215,392,000 | 267,788,000 | 174,360,000 | 260,395,000 | 260,919,000 | 242,616,000 |

### Ratios

ROE and ROA use period-end equity/assets. Liabilities / equity uses total liabilities divided by stockholders' equity. Current ratio uses current assets divided by current liabilities when both are reported.

| Metric | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Net margin | 9.03% | 15.86% | 28.94% | 8.01% | 6.80% | 10.56% | 8.46% | 9.37% | 8.65% | 7.58% |
| Operating margin | 21.93% | 17.55% | 15.72% | 15.36% | 15.53% | 19.34% | 16.86% | 17.51% | 16.53% | 15.78% |
| Return on equity | 24.56% | 33.85% | 70.96% | 26.52% | 21.44% | 45.92% | 38.09% | 66.00% | 74.94% | 140.63% |
| Return on assets | 3.29% | 4.74% | 10.72% | 2.74% | 2.34% | 3.93% | 3.23% | 3.94% | 3.86% | 3.33% |
| Liabilities / equity | 6.46 | 6.15 | 5.62 | 8.67 | 8.17 | 10.69 | 10.81 | 15.73 | 18.41 | 41.23 |
| Current ratio | 1.97 | 1.78 | 2.34 | 1.58 | 1.66 | 1.39 | 2.73 | 2.19 | 1.85 | 1.76 |

## As-reported value updates

2 tracked differences above grepcent's stated thresholds were found between the earliest XBRL-filed value and the value currently on file for the same fiscal period.

Ledger: /company/WEN/revisions/


## Quarterly

Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-08-07. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000030697.json.

Flow metrics use discrete quarter-length periods from 10-Q/10-Q/A filings. Q4 revenue and net income are derived only when annual FY and nine-month YTD facts exist for the same fiscal year; derived Q4 values are labeled. EPS Q4 is not derived.

| Quarter | End date | Revenue | Net income | Diluted EPS | Method |
| --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- |
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-10-02 |  |  | 0.24 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-04-02 |  |  | 0.19 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-07-02 |  |  | 0.28 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-07-02 |  | 59,632,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-10-01 | 550,555,000 |  | 0.28 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | 540,651,000 | 46,938,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 534,753,000 | 41,993,000 | 0.20 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-03-31 |  | 41,993,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 570,727,000 |  | 0.27 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-06-30 |  | 54,643,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-29 | 566,739,000 |  | 0.25 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-29 | 574,273,000 | 47,497,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-30 | 523,472,000 | 39,232,000 | 0.19 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-03-30 |  | 39,232,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-29 | 560,929,000 |  | 0.29 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-06-29 |  | 55,110,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-28 | 549,516,000 |  | 0.23 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-28 | 542,974,000 | 26,481,000 |  | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD |
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-29 | 540,637,000 | 22,712,000 | 0.12 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2026-Q2 | 2026-03-29 |  | 22,712,000 |  | reported discrete quarter |
| 2026-Q2 | 2026-06-28 | 570,571,000 |  | 0.17 | reported discrete quarter |

## Filed narrative (10-K & 10-Q)

## Business

Verbatim Item 1 Business section from WEN's latest 10-K: [/company/WEN/business/](/company/WEN/business/).

## Risk Factors

Verbatim Item 1A Risk Factors from WEN's latest 10-K: [/company/WEN/risk-factors/](/company/WEN/risk-factors/).

## Latest quarter (10-Q)

Latest 10-Q source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/30697/000003069726000116/wen-20260628.htm

Extracted structurally from real Item 2 body heading to real Item 3/4 boundary.
Confidence: high
Filing date: 2026-08-07
Report date: 2026-06-28

Item 2.  Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Introduction

This “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of The Wendy’s Company (“The Wendy’s Company” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) should be read in conjunction with the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere within this report and “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 28, 2025 (the “Form 10-K”). There have been no material changes as of June 28, 2026 to the application of our critical accounting policies as described in Item 7 of the Form 10-K. Certain statements we make under this Item 2 constitute “forward-looking statements” under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Projections” in “Part II. Other Information” of this report. You should consider our forward-looking statements in light of the risks discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in “Part II. Other Information” of this report and our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information appearing elsewhere in this report, the Form 10-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

The Wendy’s Company is the parent company of its 100% owned subsidiary holding company, Wendy’s Restaurants, LLC (“Wendy’s Restaurants”). Wendy’s Restaurants is the parent company of Wendy’s International, LLC (formerly known as Wendy’s International, Inc). Wendy’s International, LLC is the indirect parent company of (1) Quality Is Our Recipe, LLC (“Quality”), which is the owner and franchisor of the Wendy’s restaurant system in the United States (the “U.S.”) and all international jurisdictions except for Canada, and (2) Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada Inc., which is the owner and franchisor of the Wendy’s restaurant system in Canada. As used herein, unless the context requires otherwise, the term “Company” refers to The Wendy’s Company and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, and “Wendy’s” refers to Quality when the context relates to the ownership or franchising of the Wendy’s restaurant system and to Wendy’s International, LLC when the context refers to the Wendy’s brand.

Wendy’s is primarily engaged in the business of operating, developing and franchising a system of distinctive quick-service restaurants serving high quality food. Wendy’s opened its first restaurant in Columbus, Ohio in 1969. Today, Wendy’s is one of the largest quick-service restaurant companies in the hamburger sandwich segment in the U.S. based on traffic and dollar share, and the third largest globally with 7,180 restaurants in the U.S. and 38 foreign countries and U.S. territories as of June 28, 2026.

Each Wendy’s restaurant offers an extensive menu specializing in hamburger sandwiches and featuring chicken sandwiches, which are prepared to order with the customer’s choice of toppings and condiments. Wendy’s menu also includes chicken tenders and nuggets, chili, french fries, baked potatoes, salads, soft drinks, Frosty® desserts and kids’ meals. In addition, Wendy’s restaurants sell a variety of promotional products on a limited time basis. Wendy’s also offers breakfast in the U.S. and Canada. Wendy’s breakfast menu features a variety of breakfast sandwiches such as the Breakfast Baconator® and sides such as seasoned potatoes.

The Company is comprised of the following segments: (1) Wendy’s U.S., (2) Wendy’s International and (3) Global Real Estate & Development. Wendy’s U.S. includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S. and derives its revenues from sales at Company-operated restaurants and royalties, fees and advertising fund collections from franchised restaurants. Wendy’s International includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in countries and territories other than the U.S. and derives its revenues from sales at Company-operated restaurants and royalties, fees and advertising fund collections from franchised restaurants. Global Real Estate & Development includes real estate activity for owned sites and sites leased from third parties, which are leased and/or subleased to franchisees, and also includes our share of the income of our TimWen real estate joint venture. In addition, Global Real Estate & Development earns fees from facilitating franchisee-to-franchisee restaurant transfers (“Franchise Flips”) and providing other development-related services to franchisees. In this “Item 2.  Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” the Company reports on the segment profit for each of the three segments described above. The Company measures segment profit using segment adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”). Segment adjusted EBITDA excludes certain unallocated general and administrative expenses and other items that vary from period to period without correlation to the Company’s core operating performance. See “Results of Operations” below and Note 17 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 1 herein for segment financial information.

26

The Company’s fiscal reporting periods consist of 52 or 53 weeks ending on the Sunday closest to December 31. All three- and six-month periods presented herein contain 13 weeks and 26 weeks, respectively. All references to years, quarters and months relate to fiscal periods rather than calendar periods.

Executive Overview

Our Business

As of June 28, 2026, the Wendy’s restaurant system was comprised of 7,180 restaurants, with 5,724 Wendy’s restaurants in operation in the U.S. Of the U.S. restaurants, 420 were operated by the Company and 5,304 were operated by a total of 206 franchisees. In addition, at June 28, 2026, there were 1,456 Wendy’s restaurants in operation in 38 foreign countries and U.S. territories. Of the international restaurants, 1,446 were operated by a total of 116 franchisees and 10 were operated by the Company in the United Kingdom (the “U.K.”).

The revenues from our restaurant business are derived from two principal sources: (1) sales at Company-operated restaurants and (2) franchise-related revenues, including royalties, national advertising funds contributions, rents and franchise fees received from Wendy’s franchised restaurants.

Wendy’s operating results are impacted by a number of external factors, including commodity costs, labor costs, intense price competition, unemployment and consumer spending levels, general economic and market trends and weather.

While it evaluates its strategy, the Company is taking action across five areas: rebuilding a quality menu at compelling value, marketing that drives demand, operational excellence, a digital experience that builds frequency and restaurants as an engine for growth.

During the second quarter of 2026, the Company learned that its franchise partner in China had experienced leadership changes and the parties amended the previously disclosed franchise agreement to provide for a termination right for either party without liability prior to December 12, 2026.

Key Business Measures

We track our results of operations and manage our business using the following key business measures:

•Same-Restaurant Sales – We report same-restaurant sales commencing after new restaurants have been open for 15 continuous months and as soon as reimaged restaurants reopen. Restaurants temporarily closed for more than one week are excluded from same-restaurant sales. This methodology is consistent with the metric used by our management for internal reporting and analysis. The table summarizing same-restaurant sales below in “Results of Operations” provides the same-restaurant sales percent changes.

•Company-Operated Restaurant Margin – We define Company-operated restaurant margin as sales from Company-operated restaurants less cost of sales divided by sales from Company-operated restaurants. Cost of sales includes food and paper, restaurant labor and occupancy, advertising and other operating costs. Cost of sales excludes certain costs that support restaurant operations that are not allocated to individual restaurants, which are included in “General and administrative.” Cost of sales also excludes depreciation and amortization expense and impairment of long-lived assets. Therefore, as Company-operated restaurant margin as presented excludes certain costs as described above, its usefulness may be limited and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies in our industry.

Company-operated restaurant margin is influenced by factors such as menu prices, the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing initiatives, featured products, product mix, fluctuations in food and labor costs, restaurant openings, remodels and closures and the level of our fixed and semi-variable costs.

•Systemwide Sales – Systemwide sales includes sales by both Company-operated restaurants and franchised restaurants. Franchised restaurants’ sales are reported by our franchisees and represent their revenues from sales at franchised Wendy’s restaurants. The Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements do not include sales by franchised restaurants to their customers. The Company’s royalty and advertising funds revenues are computed as

27

percentages of sales made by Wendy’s franchisees. As a result, sales by Wendy’s franchisees have a direct effect on the Company’s royalty and advertising funds revenues and profitability.

The Company calculates same-restaurant sales and systemwide sales growth on a constant currency basis. Constant currency results exclude the impact of foreign currency translation and are derived by translating current year results at prior year average exchange rates. The Company believes excluding the impact of foreign currency translation provides better year over year comparability.

Same-restaurant sales and systemwide sales exclude sales from Argentina due to that country’s highly inflationary economy. The Company considers economies that have had cumulative inflation in excess of 100% over a three-year period as highly inflationary.

The Company believes its presentation of same-restaurant sales, Company-operated restaurant margin and systemwide sales provide a meaningful perspective of the underlying operating performance of the Company’s current business and enables investors to better understand and evaluate the Company’s historical and prospective operating performance. The Company believes that these metrics are important supplemental measures of operating performance because they highlight trends in the Company’s business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on our condensed consolidated financial statements. The Company believes investors, analysts and other interested parties use these metrics in evaluating issuers and that the presentation of these measures facilitates a comparative assessment of the Company’s operating performance. With respect to same-restaurant sales and systemwide sales, the Company also believes that the data is useful in assessing consumer demand for the Company’s products and the overall success of the Wendy’s brand.

Second Quarter Highlights

•Global systemwide sales were $3.42 billion in the second quarter of 2026 compared with $3.66 billion in the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of 6.5% on a constant currency basis;

•International systemwide sales were $546.7 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared with $528.9 million in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 3.4% on a constant currency basis;

•Revenues increased 1.7% to $570.6 million in the second quarter of 2026

[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]

## Latest 10-K MD&A (excerpt)

Latest 10-K Item 7 source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/30697/000003069726000009/wen-20251228.htm
Complete FY 2025 MD&A: /company/WEN/mda/fy2025/

Extracted structurally from real Item 7 body heading to real Item 7A/8 boundary. Published MD&A gate trimmed front/tail over-capture.
Confidence: high
Filing date: 2026-02-23
Report date: 2025-12-28

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Introduction

This “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of The Wendy’s Company (“The Wendy’s Company” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes that appear elsewhere within this report. Certain statements we make under this Item 7 constitute “forward-looking statements” under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Projections” in “Part I” preceding “Item 1 - Business.” You should consider our forward-looking statements in light of the risks discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Item 1A above, as well as our consolidated financial statements, related notes and other financial information appearing elsewhere in this report and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

Wendy’s is primarily engaged in the business of operating, developing and franchising a system of distinctive quick-service restaurants serving high quality food. Wendy’s opened its first restaurant in Columbus, Ohio in 1969. Today, Wendy’s is the second largest quick-service restaurant company in the hamburger sandwich segment in the U.S. based on traffic and dollar share, and the third largest globally with 7,397 restaurants in the U.S. and 38 foreign countries and U.S. territories as of December 28, 2025.

The Company is comprised of the following segments: (1) Wendy’s U.S., (2) Wendy’s International and (3) Global Real Estate & Development. Wendy’s U.S. includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S. and derives its revenues from sales at Company-operated restaurants and royalties, fees and advertising fund collections from franchised restaurants. Wendy’s International includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in countries and territories other than the U.S. and derives its revenues from sales at Company-operated restaurants and royalties, fees and advertising fund collections from franchised restaurants. Global Real Estate & Development includes real estate activity for owned sites and sites leased from third parties, which are leased and/or subleased to franchisees, and also includes our share of the income of our TimWen real estate joint venture. In addition, Global Real Estate & Development earns fees from facilitating franchisee-to-franchisee restaurant transfers (“Franchise Flips”) and providing other development-related services to franchisees. In this Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” the Company reports on the segment profit for each of the three segments described above. The Company measures segment profit using segment adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”). Segment adjusted EBITDA excludes certain unallocated general and administrative expenses and other items that vary from period to period without correlation to the Company’s core operating performance. See “Results of Operations” below and Note 26 to the Consolidated Financial Statements contained in Item 8 herein for segment financial information.

The Company’s fiscal reporting periods consist of 52 or 53 weeks ending on the Sunday closest to December 31 and are referred to herein as (1) “the year ended December 28, 2025” or “2025,” (2) “the year ended December 29, 2024” or “2024,” and (3) “the year ended December 31, 2023” or “2023,” all of which consisted of 52 weeks. All references to years, quarters and months relate to fiscal periods rather than calendar periods.

Executive Overview

Our Business

As of December 28, 2025, the Wendy’s restaurant system was comprised of 7,397 restaurants, with 5,969 Wendy’s restaurants in operation in the U.S. Of the U.S. restaurants, 423 were operated by the Company and 5,546 were operated by a total of 203 franchisees. In addition, at December 28, 2025, there were 1,428 Wendy’s restaurants in operation in 38 foreign countries and U.S. territories. Of the international restaurants, 1,417 were operated by a total of 117 franchisees and 11 were operated by the Company in the U.K.

The revenues from our restaurant business are derived from two principal sources: (1) sales at Company-operated restaurants and (2) franchise-related revenues, including royalties, national advertising funds contributions, rents and franchise fees received from Wendy’s franchised restaurants.

Wendy’s operating results are impacted by a number of external factors, including commodity costs, labor costs, intense price competition, unemployment and consumer spending levels, general economic and market trends and weather.

34

During 2025, the Company announced Project Fresh, a comprehensive plan to drive profitable growth and long-term value across our U.S. system. The four strategic pillars of Project Fresh include (1) brand revitalization, (2) operational excellence, (3) system optimization and (4) capital allocation. These pillars are designed to drive profitable average unit volume growth and increase traffic in the U.S. by improving marketing effectiveness, menu offerings and the customer experience, and to enhance franchisee economics. Internationally, the Company’s strategic priorities also include driving profitable average unit volume growth and sustaining strong net unit growth.

Key Business Measures

We track our results of operations and manage our business using the following key business measures:

•Same-Restaurant Sales - We report same-restaurant sales commencing after new restaurants have been open for 15 continuous months and as soon as reimaged restaurants reopen. Restaurants temporarily closed for more than one week are excluded from same-restaurant sales. This methodology is consistent with the metric used by our management for internal reporting and analysis. The table summarizing same-restaurant sales below in “Results of Operations” provides the same-restaurant sales percent changes.

•Company-Operated Restaurant Margin - We define Company-operated restaurant margin as sales from Company-operated restaurants less cost of sales divided by sales from Company-operated restaurants. Cost of sales includes food and paper, restaurant labor and occupancy, advertising and other operating costs. Cost of sales excludes certain costs that support restaurant operations that are not allocated to individual restaurants, which are included in “General and administrative.” Cost of sales also excludes depreciation and amortization expense and impairment of long-lived assets. Therefore, as Company-operated restaurant margin as presented excludes certain costs as described above, its usefulness may be limited and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies in our industry.

Company-operated restaurant margin is influenced by factors such as price increases, the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing initiatives, featured products, product mix, fluctuations in food and labor costs, restaurant openings, remodels and closures and the level of our fixed and semi-variable costs.

•Systemwide Sales - Systemwide sales includes sales by both Company-operated restaurants and franchised restaurants. Franchised restaurants’ sales are reported by our franchisees and represent their revenues from sales at franchised Wendy’s restaurants. The Company’s consolidated financial statements do not include sales by franchised restaurants to their customers. The Company’s royalty and advertising funds revenues are computed as percentages of sales made by Wendy’s franchisees. As a result, sales by Wendy’s franchisees have a direct effect on the Company’s royalty and advertising funds revenues and profitability.

•Average Unit Volumes - We calculate Company-operated restaurant average unit volumes by summing the average weekly sales of all Company-operated restaurants which reported sales during the week.

Franchised restaurant average unit volumes includes sales by franchised restaurants, which are reported by our franchisees and represent their revenue from sales at franchised Wendy’s restaurants. The Company’s consolidated financial statements do not include sales by franchised restaurants to their customers. We calculate franchised restaurant average unit volumes by summing the average weekly sales of all franchised restaurants which reported sales during the week.

The Company calculates same-restaurant sales and systemwide sales growth on a constant currency basis. Constant currency results exclude the impact of foreign currency translation and are derived by translating current year results at prior year average exchange rates. The Company believes excluding the impact of foreign currency translation provides better year over year comparability.

Same-restaurant sales and systemwide sales exclude sales from Argentina due to that country’s highly inflationary economy. The Company considers economies that have had cumulative inflation in excess of 100% over a three-year period as highly inflationary.

The Company believes its presentation of same-restaurant sales, Company-operated restaurant margin, systemwide sales and average unit volumes, including franchised restaurant average unit volumes, provide a meaningful perspective of the underlying operating performance of the Company’s current business and enables investors to better understand and evaluate

35

the Company’s historical and prospective operating performance. The Company believes that these metrics are important supplemental measures of operating performance because they highlight trends in the Company’s business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on our consolidated financial statements. The Company believes investors, analysts and other interested parties use these metrics in evaluating issuers and that the presentation of these measures facilitates a comparative assessment of the Company’s operating performance. With respect to same-restaurant sales, systemwide sales and franchised restaurant average unit volumes, the Company also believes that the data is useful in assessing consumer demand for the Company’s products and the overall success of the Wendy’s brand.

2025 Highlights

•Global systemwide sales were $13.96 billion in 2025 compared with $14.49 billion in 2024, a decrease of 3.5% on a constant currency basis;

•International systemwide sales were $2.06 billion in 2025 compared with $1.93 billion in 2024, an increase of 8.1% on a constant currency basis;

•Revenues decreased 3.1% to $2.18 billion in 2025 compared with $2.25 billion in 2024;

•Global same-restaurant sales decreased 4.7%, U.S. same-restaurant sales decreased 5.6% and international same-restaurant sales increased 1.3% compared to 2024. On a two-year basis, global same-restaurant sales decreased 3.2%;

•Global Company-operated restaurant margin was 13.6% in 2025, a decrease of 180 basis points compared to 2024;

•Income before income taxes decreased 16.6% to $227.2 million in 2025 compared to $272.4 million in 2024;

•Digital sales increased to approximately 20.8% of global systemwide sales in 2025 compared with approximately 17.6% in 2024; and

•Systemwide restaurant count increased by 157 net new restaurants in 2025.

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This section of this Form 10-K generally discusses 2025 and 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2025 and 2024. For discussion related to 2023 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023 that are not included in this Form 10-K, please refer to Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our 2024 Form 10-K, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on February 21, 2025.

Results of Operati

[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]

Read the full FY 2025 MD&A: /company/WEN/mda/fy2025/
All MD&A years: /company/WEN/mda/


## MD&A history

Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. Each year's full verbatim text is on its own sub-page.

- [FY 2024 MD&A](/company/WEN/mda/fy2024/): filed 2025-02-21; accession 0000030697-25-000003 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/30697/000003069725000003/wen-20241229.htm)
- [FY 2023 MD&A](/company/WEN/mda/fy2023/): filed 2024-02-26; accession 0000030697-24-000004 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/30697/000003069724000004/wen-20231231.htm)
- [FY 2023 MD&A](/company/WEN/mda/a-0000030697-23-000002/): filed 2023-03-01; accession 0000030697-23-000002 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/30697/000003069723000002/wen-20230101.htm)
- [FY 2022 MD&A](/company/WEN/mda/fy2022/): filed 2022-03-01; accession 0000030697-22-000003 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/30697/000003069722000003/wen-20220102.htm)




## Macro cross-references

Indicators mapped to this company's SIC classification (industry 5810 Retail-Eating & Drinking Places) by grepcent's deterministic macro-sector crosswalk. A navigational mapping, not a statistical or causal claim.

- [PCE](/indicator/PCE/): Personal Consumption Expenditures
- [DSPIC96](/indicator/DSPIC96/): Real Disposable Personal Income
- [PSAVERT](/indicator/PSAVERT/): Personal Saving Rate
- [PAYEMS](/indicator/PAYEMS/): All Employees, Total Nonfarm

Macro-to-micro threads including this sector: [Inflation (CPI / PCE / PPI)](/thread/inflation-cpi-pce-ppi/), [US labor market](/thread/us-labor-market/), [Growth & output](/thread/growth-output/), [Sector employment](/thread/sector-employment/), [Industrial orders & inventories](/thread/industrial-orders/), [Trade & external](/thread/trade-external/).

All macro indicators: /indicators/


## For LLMs & downloads

Markdown twin: /company/WEN.md · JSON record: /company/WEN.json · verified financials: /company/WEN/financials.json / /company/WEN/financials.csv · machine TOC for the whole site: /llms.txt