Wendy’s Rolls Out Phase 2 of its Strategic Growth Plan

Every employee and franchisee to focus on “Doing What’s Right for Customers”

Wendy’s 2008 goals are to attract more customers with innovative, quality products that meet customers needs, strengthen Wendy’s leadership in the QSR industry by better connecting with consumers, and continue improving profits for all 6,600 Wendy’s restaurants

One day after announcing strong results that included its fifth consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales and a 330-basis point improvement in third quarter U.S. EBITDA store margins, Wendy’s International, Inc. (NYSE:WEN) today said it is launching Phase 2 of its Strategic Growth Plan.

“We introduced our ’Wendy’s® Recipe for Success’ strategy one year ago in October 2006 to focus on initiatives to revitalize the brand while growing sales and profits in every restaurant in our system,” said Chief Executive Officer and President Kerrii Anderson. “We’ve made significant progress in the past 12 months as a result of the initiatives implemented under the strategic plan. The foundation of our business is stronger today thanks to the performance of our restaurant crews, operators, franchisees, and field and corporate employees.

“That said, we have to step up our performance with innovation, change and leveraging Wendy’s competitive advantages. Our business and store economics are still not where they need to be. We have much more to accomplish,” Anderson said.

“To drive our business, Wendy’s leadership team has identified 10 imperatives for 2008 and beyond aimed at achieving improved results for every restaurant in our system. The imperatives are focused on ’Doing What’s Right for our Customers’.”

The 10 imperatives build on top of Wendy’s ”Recipe for Success”, which is focused on: Revitalizing the Wendy’s Brand, Streamlining and Improving Operations, Reclaiming Innovation Leadership, Strengthening Franchisee Commitment, Capturing New Opportunities (eg. International growth), and Embracing a Performance Driven Culture.

“Our strategic plan has a bold vision for Wendy’s – customer-focused, successful, more profitable in every restaurant and growing,” said Anderson . “We are committed to protecting and growing this great brand.”

Seven of the strategic imperatives drive growth, and the final three create efficiencies and improve returns.

* Core Hamburger – Continue to improve Wendy’s premium hamburger market share by increasing consumer appeal and building transactions. Build on Wendy’s core strength with distinctive national advertising, by leveraging the success of the Baconator™ and indulgent sandwiches, and by emphasizing the brand’s unique competitive advantage of “fresh, never frozen” beef.
* Value Menu – Introduce an updated and effective Value strategy to capture a growing share of the critical 18-34 year-old customer.
* Beverages – Establish beverages as a “destination” as well as a meal accompaniment. There are plans to expand several beverage programs.
* Late Snack / Snacking – Re-energize Wendy’s Late Night business and capture afternoon and evening snack opportunities. Introduce innovative products that will appeal to the “Snacking” heavy users.
* Breakfast – Continue to leverage the Wendy’s brand and optimize our facilities by offering a new day-part to consumers who exhibit a demand for a better, high-quality breakfast. This imperative meets consumer needs in the fast-growing breakfast market, and improves store margins.
* Customer Service – Introduce a “Total Customer Feedback System” for improved customer service.
* Reinvestment – Re-image restaurants by using a systematic capital reinvestment process and disciplined approach. Reinvesting is critical to meeting consumer needs and driving long-term sales improvement.
* People Quality – Further elevate the customer experience by improving the hiring and retention of Wendy’s employees while reducing turnover, improving training, and generating savings at the store level.
* Re-franchising – Improve the overall health of Wendy’s system by re-franchising, as well as acquiring and re-imaging franchise restaurants with potential for future re-franchising.
* Store Margins – Leave no stone unturned to achieve store margin objectives.

“We are in the second phase of our turnaround. The base was built over the past year and now we are implementing imperatives with a knowledgeable team that has more experience, rich data and information about our industry, understands our challenges and respects the special Wendy’s culture established by Founder Dave Thomas,” said Anderson . “Dave was the original change agent and continually pushed the Wendy’s business to succeed. That’s what we are doing to deliver greater value for our customers, shareholders, franchisees and employees.”