r/business • u/somewhereinhell • 20d ago
Wendy's is upgrading its french fries
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/26/business/wendys-new-french-fries/index.html23
u/duffmcshark 19d ago
How well do they pair with a Frosty, the preferred condiment for Wendy’s fries?
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u/tektite 20d ago
Batter ruins fries for me.
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u/hilandhall 20d ago
Their original fries were GOAT. The current ones are ehhhh. New ones sound like Burger King which are the WORST.
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u/iblis32 20d ago
Agree, only one better is Arby’s. BK is last
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u/ispeektroof 19d ago
Arby’s seasoned curlies drenched in sauce!
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u/SoggieSox 19d ago
They are so damn good. Roast beef is boring, so get that turkey sandwich. All worth it for the fries
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u/RoryJSK 20d ago
The hell are you talking about? Burger King has great, classic, fries.
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u/scootscoot 19d ago
May be regional. When I eat BK fries in Washington state (where most of the potatoes come from) they are great! When I lived in Washington DC they tasted like they had been in a potato shed for way too long. That experience taught me to like McDonalds fries, not because they are good, but because they are consistent across the US.
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u/PoorTuning 19d ago
BK fries used to be so much better before they changed them, but now they just have a weird aftertaste to them.
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u/goldenthrone 19d ago
They're not my favourite fries, honestly, but hopefully it's actually an improvement. KFC recently did something similar (at least here in Canada), and it was a huge improvement; but theirs were actually really bad around here lately, as they'd come out in a literal ball of grease, so was a welcome improvement for me.
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u/DinkandDrunk 19d ago
Deja vu. They redid the fries years ago to get to the current iteration and they were bomb for a little while, before gradually becoming soggier and grosser.
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u/spacepeenuts 19d ago
Too bad I love natural cut fries actually
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u/CherenkovsWake 19d ago
You can have natural cut fries that aren't soggy AF. Look at 5 guys, far superior natural cut ketchup spoons, I mean fries. Ibdo love natural cut fries, but in my opinion, Wendy's version has always sucked.
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u/illegible 19d ago
wendy's fries are far superior to 5 guys greasy soggy mess of mushy potato.
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u/llandar 19d ago
But Wendy’s fries ARE a greasy soggy mess?
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u/YourLocalCreep 19d ago
As someone else here said, it could be a consistency thing where it varies from place to place. This and the sogginess issue specifically seem to be what Wendy’s is trying to tackle with this change.
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u/Inanimate_CARB0N_Rod 19d ago
I love them too, but the "Natural Cut" moniker is total marketing bullshit. Still tasty though, and my first choice for fast food fries.
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u/bludstone 19d ago
Id be happy with them being able to make the drive-thru line take less then 30 mins. Ive absolutely given up on my local wendys at this point. Oh also, if they get your order wrong, they wont even let you inside to fix it, you have to wait in the drive thru line again- which nobody does.
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u/hilandhall 19d ago
Don't leave the drive thru window until you've checked your order. It puts them on the spot to correct it immediately.
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u/bludstone 19d ago
and then you actually open the packing and find out they left a bit of paper attached to the cheese in your chicken sandwich. (this happened to me) also its the wrong type of chicken sandwich in the wrapping of the sandwich you ordered.
there is only so much checking you can do. I always check to make sure there is the right number of sandwiches or whatevers, but I shouldnt be expected to open every sandwich and check the contents.
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u/nope_91 20d ago
I like soggy fries…and Wendy’s was one of my fav fry makers :/
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u/sessimon 19d ago
I’ve been on a recent Wendy’s crave, and their fries were totally a big part of what I loved! I feel like it happens too often that I get into some food product and shortly after the company either goes out of business or changes the product 😫
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u/myarrearsarebleeding 19d ago
They making them with batter now to cut corners and spinning it as if it'll be a good thing.
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u/jkim1258 20d ago
Sir, this is a wendy's
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u/IolaBoylen 19d ago
Hmmm I think these have already been rolled out in Ohio - stopped by Wendy’s with a friend on Wednesday and we both commented about how good the fries were. We thought it was just a good fry day.
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u/Valiuncy 19d ago
Thank God. Their fries are awful. Burger King, McDonald’s, steak in shake, inn in out, shake shack, Culver’s, Dairy Queen. Literally everybody has better friends than Wendy’s.
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u/Robioli 19d ago
In n out fries are absolute trash
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u/Valiuncy 19d ago
At first I hated them, I grew into them later but they are the bottom of the bunch but still better than Wendy’s in my opinion. I just need to salt the shit out of them
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u/Trader2KG 20d ago
How do you upgrade French Fries?
I mean besides putting steak and cheese in them?
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u/toooldtostayuplate 20d ago
There is actually a lot of changes you can make to your fries. How are you gonna cut them? Thin/thick/curly? Skin on or off? How long are you soaking them in cold water? Are you dusting them in flour or not? What oil do you use for frying? How done do you want them? What's your seasoning? What's your salt? I'm sure there are other things you could change.
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u/TacosAreJustice 19d ago
Don’t forget the potatoes you use… it’s the reason in and out fries are consistently mediocre… they use the potato chip potato similar to what lays uses. It’s consistent, but doesn’t make a great fry. McDonald’s uses some huge potato (like 4-5 lbs) that’s similar to a russet but larger…
There is a place in Boise that serves a variety of potato options (Boise fry company)
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u/toooldtostayuplate 19d ago
You're right! That's probably the most important detail. McDonald's potatoes are my absolute favorite. Two bad they don't last long.
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u/TacosAreJustice 19d ago
Yeah, my uncle runs a burger restaurant and was showing us the different potatoes… it was really interesting.
It’s amazing how many little options you have in something that simple… I need to get some beef tallow to fry in.
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u/toooldtostayuplate 19d ago
Oh my that sounds amazing!
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u/TacosAreJustice 19d ago
Apparently that's what Mcdonlad's originally fried in, but moved away from it for trans-fat reasons...
I haven't tried to source beef tallow yet, but it shouldn't be impossible... It's also suggested to use as part of smoking a brisket.
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u/NumenSD 20d ago
If somebody can manage to put cheese and steak inside of french fries and make it taste half decent... they'll have a customer for life
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u/LeftyMcSavage 20d ago
I think McDonald's fries ingredients actually include beef and dairy, believe it or not.
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u/lazy-gent-Ed 19d ago
They used to use beef tallow, but changed the recipe years ago. Malcolm Gladwell did a podcast on the change. https://www.grubstreet.com/2017/08/[More info here.](https://www.grubstreet.com/2017/08/malcolm-gladwell-feels-betrayed-by-mcdonalds-french-fries.html)
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u/river-wind 19d ago
They stopped frying in beef tallow, and instead added beef flavor to the fries directly prior to frying:
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. *natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.
https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/small-french-fries.html
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u/myarrearsarebleeding 19d ago
I love soggy fries and cannot stand batter. Their fries were one of the only good fast food fries left. This was about cutting corners not improving the fries....
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u/arlen_tx 19d ago
I came to see all the comments that say “who gives a fuck” and I’m disappointed I’m not seeing any.
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u/scootscoot 19d ago
Their fries are super inconsistent. Sometimes they’re burnt, sometimes they’re soggy, sometimes they’re just right with a little crunch on the outside and a fluffy mashed potato interior. Wonder if part of the “new” fries is quality control?
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u/sangjmoon 19d ago
How you keep fries and other fried food crispy longer is by removing the moisture that usually gets absorbed by the surface of the fried food. You can accomplish this by ventilating the food so that the moisture evaporates or use some wrapping material that absorbs the moisture. The trouble is that being cold and crispy is not necessarily going to taste better than warm and soggy.
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u/RollForPanicAttack 19d ago
Their fries are good if well executed. The problem around me has been execution, not the product itself.
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u/proverbialbunny 19d ago
The flavor of fries comes from its oil (and seasoning ofc). The oil determines the flavor, eg fries in duck fat are amazing. Notice the article doesn't talk about the oil, so they're still going to be the cheapest worst tasting type of fry oil.
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u/havocLSD 20d ago edited 20d ago
Here I am waiting for semiconductor shortage to end so I can finally build a damn gaming PC. But, at least Wendy’s is optimizing my French fry eating experience.