Crisis Communications
Wendy's Chili Finger Hoax: A Crisis Comms Case Study
How a planted fingertip in a bowl of chili cost Wendy's 2.5 million dollars in sales, and how the chain's calm, fact-first response became a textbook false claim defense.
Tag
Wendy's — Tagged Articles
Food & Beverage
Wendy's: The QSR That Built Brand Twitter
EPR's canonical Wendy's reference — the QSR burger chain that built the most-imitated brand-Twitter operation in modern marketing and ran the fastest single-incident crisis recovery in the EPR Q2 2026 benchmark.
Research
Restaurant Crisis Recovery Benchmark Q2 2026: McDonald's, Chipotle, Wendy's Lead
McDonald's 89. Chipotle 84. Wendy's 78. Boar's Head 18. Red Lobster 24. Cracker Barrel 38. Speed of admission predicts speed of recovery. Q2 2026 benchmark.
Crisis Communications
The McDonald's CEO Big Arch Bite Case Study
A 90-second Instagram video posted by McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski — promoting the new Big Arch burger — produced more competitor marketing leverage for Burger King and Wendy's than any McDonald's launch communications had generated in years. The case is now the reference for CEO authenticity crisis communications in 2026.
Food & Beverage
Burger King's Marketing Turnaround
Burger King runs the most disciplined marketing operation in QSR. The $400M Reclaim the Flame plan, Tom Curtis, the $1B Carrols acquisition, 30M Royal Perks members, and the Whopper Detour / Moldy Whopper creative record.
Marketing
Heinz Enters the Gaming World
Heinz in gaming — Tomato Blood, Eternal Ketchup, and the wider CPG in-game activation playbook running across Wendy's, Burger King, Chipotle, and Gucci.