Wendy’s Launching Breakfast Nationwide in 2020

If you hit up most fast food chains, you’ll find that they offer not just lunch and dinner items, but breakfast items as well. McDonald’s, Sonic, Burger King, Taco Bell, even Chick-Fil-A all have breakfast offerings but for most people hitting up Wendy’s, the most important meal of the day isn’t on their local restaurant’s menu. That, however, is about to change as Wendy’s announced Tuesday that they will begin serving breakfast nationwide starting next year.

According to a press release, the restaurant will be taking their breakfast menu that is currently available only in about 300 of their restaurants and making it available in all of them in 2020. It’s a move that will bring menu items such as the Breakfast Baconator, Frosty-ccino, and Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit and several others to the morning fast food loving masses.

“Launching breakfast in our U.S. restaurants nationwide provides incredible growth opportunities,” said Todd Penegor, President and CEO of The Wendy’s Company. “We are well-positioned to pursue it. We believe we have the right team and structure in place, and we put Wendy’s fan favorites on our breakfast menu to set us apart from the competition.”

In order to make this roll-out happen, Wendy’s is making a $20 million one-time upfront investment in 2019 and will hire 20,000 new employees to support this breakfast expansion. More details about the expansion are expected to be shared in Wendy’s upcoming Investor Day on October 11th, particularly in terms of expected financial impact of entering the lucrative breakfast market. The exact launch date for nationwide breakfast has not yet been released.

Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time that Wendy’s has done a nationwide breakfast menu rollout. According to USA Today, the chain attempted something similar in the mid-1980s. The menu at that time included such fare as omelets, toasted sandwiches, and French toast, but was discontinued as the items took to long to make. The latest incarnation has been tested in around 300 restaurants for several years, presumably performing well enough for Wendy’s to make the leap once again.

What do you think? Have you been able to try Wendy’s elusive breakfast menu or are you having to wait until 2020 like most people? What is your favorite fast food breakfast? Let us know in the comments below — or hit me up on Twitter @lifeinpolaroid to talk about Wendy’s breakfast, all things food, and more!