Wendy’s announced its new entrée salad offerings:
Wendy’s Raises the Bar on Salads
Four New Salads Deliver High Quality Ingredients, Freshly Prepared
Wendy’s, the chain that first brought the salad bar to fast food customers over 30 years ago, then pioneered the premium salad offering with their Garden Sensations line in 2002, is reinventing QSR salads once again. The new fresh and flavorful line-up — Apple Pecan Chicken, BLT Cobb, Spicy Chicken Caesar and Baja — is now available in restaurants nationwide.
The four reinvented salads combine real ingredients and fresh preparation to deliver an unrivaled taste in every bite. With Wendy’s new salads, customers can experience high-quality ingredients and flavor combinations similar to what they would expect in a café or casual dining restaurant, but with the great value and convenience they expect from Wendy’s.
The salads are prepared fresh in-store and topped with a variety of premium ingredients not usually found at fast food restaurants: spring mix with nine types of greens; fruits like cranberries and two types of apples; real blue cheese crumbles and shaved Asiago; fresh Pico de Gallo and guacamole; roasted pecans and warm chicken. Then each salad is served with Marzetti’s all natural and preservative-free dressings, made especially for Wendy’s, including Pomegranate Vinaigrette, Avocado Ranch, Lemon Garlic Caesar and Creamy Red Jalapeno.
The new line-up was first revealed to four test markets, Nashville, TN. Columbus, OH, Salt Lake City, UT and Richmond, VA, earlier this year and produced strong results. Sales of the salads exceeded expectations and customer reviews were highly favorable, spurring Wendy’s to launch the salads as a permanent menu item.
“We are raising the bar on salads again,” says Ken Calwell, chief marketing officer for Wendy’s.
“Wendy’s new premium salads offer the high-quality ingredients and choice that our customers crave. After a successful round of testing, we are thrilled to be bringing these new options to consumers nationwide.”
Wendy’s new salads are available nationwide at the suggested retail price $5.99. Prices will vary.
About the salads:
Apple Pecan Chicken Salad —
A blend of fresh lettuce and spring mix salad greens, topped with real blue cheese crumbles, U.S. grown, hand-picked Granny Smith and sweet red apple pieces, roasted pecans seasoned with sea salt, cayenne pepper and sugar, dried Ocean Spray cranberries and warm grilled chicken. This salad comes with all natural, preservative-free Pomegranate Vinaigrette dressing.
BLT Cobb Salad —
A blend of fresh lettuce and spring mix salad greens, topped with two strips of Applewood Smoked Bacon, freshly chopped tomatoes, real blue cheese crumbles, chopped hard boiled eggs and warm grilled chicken. This salad is served with all natural, preservative-free creamy Avocado Ranch dressing.
B
aja Salad —
A blend of fresh lettuce and spring mix salad greens, topped with natural cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, guacamole made with Hass avocados, freshly prepared Pico de Gallo, all natural tortilla chips, and Wendy’s famous rich and meaty chili. This salad is served with all natural, preservative-free Creamy Red Jalapeno dressing.
Spicy Chicken Caesar —
A bed of fresh romaine lettuce topped with vine ripened grape tomatoes, natural shaved Asiago cheese, French bread croutons seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and garlic and Wendy’s famous Spicy Chicken. This salad is served with all natural, preservative-free Lemon Garlic Caesar dressing.
Wendy’s will also continue to offer the Garden and Caesar side salads:
Garden Side Salad —
A blend of fresh salad greens, topped with grape tomatoes, matchstick carrots, and French bread croutons seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and garlic. This salad is served with the customer’s choice of dressing.
Caesar Side Salad —
A bed of fresh salad greens, topped with shaved Asiago cheese, grape tomatoes, French bread croutons seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and garlic. This salad is served with all natural, preservative-free Lemon Garlic Caesar dressing.
The salads look very nice. Personally we would like to see a wider variety of fresh produce on the salads — artichoke hearts and cucumber and peppers and onions, etc. — but they are certainly nice salads and a mile away from what fast food places were serving just a few years ago.
We did think it notable that the release made no mention of nutritional data — when presumably the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle would be a prime motivator in consuming these salads.
We requested the information and Wendy’s quickly accommodated our request:
Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
1 cup of vegetables
1/2 cup of fruit
1/2 cup of milk
4 oz. of meat
TOTAL CALORIES = 580 calories
(Calories include two packets of dressing)
Without Toppings = 350 calories
• Two dressing packets = 120 calories
• Pecans = 110 calories
Baja Salad
2 cups of vegetables
1 cup of milk
2 oz. of meat
TOTAL CALORIES = 740 calories
(Calories include one packet of dressing)
Without Toppings = 550 calories
• One dressing packet = 100 calories
• Tortilla strips = 80 calories
BLT Cobb Salad
1-1/2 cups of vegetables
1/2 cup of milk
5 oz. of meat
TOTAL CALORIES = 670 calories
(Calories include two dressing packets)
Without Toppings = 460 calories
• Two dressing packets = 200 calories
Spicy Chicken Caesar
1-1/2 cups of vegetables
1/2 cup of milk
3-1/2 oz. of meat
TOTAL CALORIES = 740 calories
(Calories includes two packets of dressing)
Without Toppings = 450 calories
• Two dressing packets = 210 calories
• Gourmet croutons = 80 calories
The salads are perfectly normal. It does seem to us that they point to the enormous difficulty of hoping that dietary change will help resolve obesity issues.
First, we note that a Wendy’s “double stack” hamburger, which includes two quarter-pound patties plus bun, cheese and veggies, comes in at 750 calories — roughly the same as the Baja salad and Spicy Chicken Caesar.
Although many who eat that hamburger might also eat French fries and drink a soda — there is no guarantee that people who eat a salad will forgo other foods and drink only water. We would have hoped it to be a major advance in the war on obesity if we could get everyone who bought a Wendy’s Double to buy a Spicy Chicken Caesar instead — but it would barely make a difference.
More generally, we went into MyPyramid.gov and put in Mrs. Pundit’s height and age. It advised that a woman of her height and age should have a total diet of 1,600 calories! If we revised it to put her down as highly physically active, the website advises that she should have a diet of 2200 calories a day.
So if she had the lowest calorie input of these salads three times a day and ate nothing else — she would still exceed the 1,600 calorie-a-day limit. If she had the salads on the high end of the range — and nothing else — she would also exceed the 2,200 calorie goal.
Now we don’t blame Wendy’s for this. There is absolutely no point in its marketing salads that nobody will buy. It is also true that consumers can drop the salad dressing and some of the add-ons such as pecans and tortilla strips and get the calorie count down.
Some will do so, but plenty more will have a side of fries or a Coke to drink or a Frosty for dessert, not to mention wanting a midnight snack or a Saturday night indulgence or a daily glass of wine… or two… or three.
Are we really being realistic in expecting people to eat in accordance with these public health suggestions and, if not, are we discouraging more people than we are helping?
