Wendy’s commitment to fresh, never frozen, and affordable food sets it apart in a crowded space. But as market uncertainties and shifting consumer habits put sustained pressure on fast food restaurants, Wendy’s also needs to balance consumer value with profitability.

That’s the real challenge facing restaurants today — how to deliver value that continually wins trips from customers without unnecessarily eroding already-thin margins. We see across retail categories that consumers are increasingly willing to look around for the best value, and so restaurants are wise to provide it. 

While one-size-fits-all discounts or bundled value meals can boost foot traffic and earn more visits, they also hurt profitability and could be losing propositions in the long run. “Quick wins” like these often reward existing customers and cannibalize revenue, rather than attracting new or incremental visits. 

Leading Wendy’s franchisees already use Upside to drive sustainable growth. This success story comes from their experience.

How one Wendy’s franchisee is growing with Upside

One QSR franchisee with Wendy’s locations on the platform has already seen results. 

Read on to see how Upside’s personalized promotions can drive incremental visits and protect franchisee profit, giving everybody what they want. 

Creating long-term value instead of quick wins

Upside is a digital marketplace that connects retailers with nearby customers via personalized promotions. These offers, which are unique to each Upside user, profitably incentivize customers to visit our partners’ stores and spend more when they do.  

From the beginning, we primarily target new, lapsed, and infrequent customers. We call them “uncommitted customers,” because they prioritize maximizing value on each transaction over loyalty to any particular brand. (Our offers also might reach your devoted fans, but our methodology accounts for that. More on that in a second.)

As our platform reaches over 35 million American consumers, we have a lot of these uncommitted customers in our orbit, and we can present them with personalized offers to get them to visit Wendy’s more often. That’s significant brand exposure, and it comes at no cost to our partners. 

Unlike value meals or one-size-fits all discounts, Upside’s dynamic offers can change based on individual needs, available margin, and even the time of day — adjusting to drive more sales during off-peak hours, for example. These promotions motivate customers to change their usual behavior. (And we know that the right cash back offer can motivate customers to travel up to 10 miles out of their way for a meal.) These personalized, one-to-one offers find the sweet spot — enticing enough for the consumer, profitable enough for the retailer (because they don’t over-incentivize loyal customers). Our platform does this for every customer, at scale. 

That makes all the difference in a space like the restaurant industry, where competition is fierce and customers can only eat so many meals in a day. By helping Wendy’s win more visits from uncommitted customers, Upside can serve as a competitive advantage over rivals who aren’t on the platform. It’s exclusive real estate that helps you win more wallet share from the millions of customers who use the Upside app to decide where to eat.

See how Upside turned one infrequent Wendy's customer into a regular.

And so what happens when you’ve got more customers eating more meals at more stores? With additional opportunities to make positive impressions, Wendy’s can fuel its loyalty program with more members. By increasing transactions, Upside can serve as a pipeline that fuels Wendy’s Rewards and makes it stronger without sacrificing profit. 

Now, remember earlier when we said your devoted customers might use Upside, too? Our incremental methodology accounts for their pre-Upside spend, so if they start claiming Upside offers but don’t alter their order size or frequency in any way, Upside will fund those promotions in their entirety. Unlike traditional marketing and discounting strategies, our incremental measurement ensures that franchisees only pay for true lift.

More engaged customers making repeat visits and boosting lifetime value for Wendy’s — Upside is a smarter way to grow. 

Upside brings customers to Wendy’s locations when and where you need them, so you can increase off-peak demand and keep meal-turn rates high.

Get in touch with our team of restaurant experts to learn more.