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Wrong Order, Rotten Food
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

CELINA, OHIO -- I went to Wendy's drive through and ordered two ten piece chicken nuggets combos and two chilies. When I got home, I had two hamburger combos instead of my nuggets. The lid was half off from one of my chilies. What a mess. It was around closing, so I thought, what the heck, I will have burgers after all. The lettuce, tomatoes and onion were rotten from the heat of the burgers. I had to throw the burgers in the trash. My wife and I just could not get them down. They were very nasty! So, stay away from Wendy's in Celina, Ohio.

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Horrible
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND -- Okay 11:45 am on 8/6/2014. Late night there was a white guy in drive thru and a tall black guy cooking and a girl couldn't see what she was doing but heard her she was loud but "any who order chicken nugget medium fries JR bacon cheeseburger with medium strawberry lemonade." So I got my food drive thru man said "everything in the bag." So I said "thank you."

And as I was driving I got to the light to get y'all wonderful fries my fry box was ripped it look like there was 25 fries in a medium fry box some was burned the rest of the food was cold. I was so mad I went back in asked the drive thru man, "would you eat them?" I let him pull them out my bag his self. He said "No." "So why would you serve me that if you wouldn't eat it?" No respond back. No "I apologize" nothing. I was scared to ask for my other food to be hot to cause how they act over my fries like they didn't care.

Went home threw all the food away. I will no longer eat from Wendy's and I always eat from a Wendy's least once a week. Never again. I was so angry I took the time out my night to write this concern and I just let Wendy's like15-20 minutes ago. I'm sure this won't get read but just thought you like to know about your business and I didn't even get a receipt. I stick to McDonald's or Burger king for now on. I guess driving a extra mile for some hot food and good service won't be bad.

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Wrong Order, Bad Service
StarStarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 2/51

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE -- First of all, I try to be as polite as I can be to people working in public. I know they have a tough time with rude and thoughtless customers. I try to be mindful of that, I've dealt with it myself. I don't even mind occasionally when they get my fast food order wrong. I know those things happen. But... yesterday a friend and I stopped by Wendy's on our way home from work.

My friend placed her order and then I placed mine. Now, the girl on the register was training, but there was someone standing there with her to help her find the right keys on the register. My order was pretty simple -- a sour cream and chives baked potato and a small strawberry lemonade. They hand me the potato and I can see it has no sour cream in the box with the potato. I ask for sour cream and the two girls look at me like I'm nuts. Then I look down at my drink and it's a regular lemonade, not a strawberry lemonade which I ordered.

I got to eat my potato and I drank the regular lemonade but I have to believe people are getting more and more to where they don't care about customer service anymore. I guess they figure if they lose some customers, there will always be more. This is just one Wendy's location. Others I have been to in my city have been fine. As I said, I know the girl was training but there were no customers except my friend and myself and my order was very simple.

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I Worked There, Was Not Trained Properly And Was Treated Like Trash!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NORWICH, CONNECTICUT -- I worked in the back, others did not clean pots pans and utensils properly. th water was DIRTY and the sanitizer NOT used. I have on numerous OCCASIONS had drained the water, cleaned the sink and filled the sanitizer water after cleaning THAT section of the sink, threw dirty pots and pans back into to water that others have not done right and washed them my self.

The chicken fryer smoked ALL the time and oil was not drained and the chicken fryer not cleaned when it should have been . Other co-workers handling food without gloves at times. Flies and worms in salads found by customers. Chicken NOT rotated and thrown out when it should have been, kept in the drawers way too long. Chicken was served BY A MANAGER at night, taken OUT of the garbage can and served to a drive thru customer!!

I had to call corporate numerous times of which nothing much was done and I was let go by corporate upon the store's complaint, exaggerated write ups on me. Very poor store cleanliness and extremely poor and prejudicial behavior and training on the corporate and management of this store. I would never eat, or work in this store EVER again!

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Just an Informative Statement
StarStarStarStarStarBy -
Rating: 5/51

ARKANSAS -- I work at Wendy's and I've been reading several of these Wendy's reviews to compare my work experiences with customers and other employees. There are are several complaints. To start, I just want to say I don't intend for anything written in here to be derogatory or negative. Here are some things I want to inform the public about in not only Wendy's, but fast food in general.

  1. We are not ALL lazy idiots. Personally, I am working 30 hours per week, while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in nursing school. A coworker is finishing up graduate school with a 3.8 another is in engineering school, doing quite well. Another is doing well in her sophomore year, and another will soon start college to study biology. My manager has a bachelor's degree in management.

  2. My specific Wendy's is quite strict. We are trained to make the customer our top priority. We are currently in a three week streak with zero complaints. Our last inspection? 96/100. I personally cleaned the dining room the night before, and not a single point was deducted from it. The four we missed were due to minor performance errors such as dumping the left fry basket into the right fry bin. We are also trained to go out of our way to satisfy a customer, which we do. You want fresh fries? No problem. You want a salad without a certain ingredient? No problem.

  3. We're not perfect; everyone makes mistakes. We're on timers, which makes the job a little more stressful. When you're being rushed, it's easy to make mistakes, but we fix them. If we slowed down and did the job with meticulosity, it would no longer be fast food. Sometimes we will sell some product, so we cook more to replace it. Occasionally a massive amount will be ordered among several different customers, resulting in some waiting. Our apologies.

  4. Here's some procedures I saw being questioned: Salads are prepped fresh every morning so if you got a rotten salad, someone isn't doing their job of throwing them out. Every ten minutes we have a timer that sounds, reminding us to stir chili and cheese, sanitize all stations, manager do a walk-around, and wash your hands if you're available to do so. Everything that is cooked is on a timer. Our chili has a certain recipe, so if your chili was below standards, someone didn't do their job. All food has a hold time. When the hold time expires, you're required to throw the product away.

  5. Being nice and communicating clearly will help the accuracy of your order and your service. No matter how belligerent you are, we are required to "be nice," so please, help us out with a little respect. Don't get me wrong, some customers are great. At the drive through, speak at a medium volume. We can't hear whispering, and yelling requires is turning down our head sets. If we repeat something, it's not because we're too stupid to get your order, it's because we are just checking to ensure that your order can be filled as accurately as possible.

  6. Remember, this was informative, not derogatory, so please don't leave any derogatory comments. Also, I'm sorry to anyone who has had a bad experience at Wendy's, I thought all managers were required to train their crew properly like mine.

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Wendy's Customer Service / Facility Management & Food Preparation
By -

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA -- I have been going to Wendy's for as long as I can remember. I grew up loving their frosties and the chili. I can honestly say after 36 years of being a loyal customer, I will NEVER return to a Wendy's or Arby's again! My story begins at the new location Wendy's put up on the corner of Bannerman & Thomasville road in Tallahassee, Florida. This is really the only Wendy's on that side of town, close to Golden Eagle Country Club. I was excited when I saw it being built, boy was I wrong.

OK, about 3 months ago I go through the drive through, on my motorcycle. I order my usual, 2 jr bacon cheeseburgers and a small fry. Just enough to wrap up the bag, and ride home with it. Sometimes however, I do like to pull over and eat some, being very hungry after a hard day of work in the 100 degree heat doing construction. I work VERY hard for the pennies I make.

So this time, I pull over, eat a burger, and some fries. The burger wasn't as bad as the fries, it was at least warm. But the fries however, were cold, nasty and tasted 6 hours old. Knowing I'd cause more of a stir then it was worth, I decided against going in and complaining, and just went on my merry way.

About 2 weeks later, I'm at home, and decide to go to Wendy's to get something to eat. A weekday being around 8:30 pm. So I hop on my motorcycle and ride the 5 minutes down to the Wendy's. I pull up to the drive through, nobody else is in line, and barely anyone besides employees inside, I shut off the bike and wait. No I'm not the rude jerk that leaves his bike running, I even shut it off after I move up, every time, if a line exists. To allow people to order without the noise.

So I'm waiting about a minute, and nobody has even said hi. So I peek around the corner, and I can see the lady standing with her headset in the drive through pay window. I start the bike and move up and I'm like "did you not hear me? Did the bike not buzz the buzzer thingy?" (and I never had a problem with that before at this location)
She says to me, "No I saw you and heard you, but we don't serve motorcycles at the drive through." Once again I laugh and say "Oh OK" and park to go in, knowing raising a complaint would probably just get my food spit in. So I go inside order, eat, once again cold terrible sour tasting fries!

This time I go home, and decide to look on the internet for the company site, and file a formal complaint. Both about the issue at the drive through, and the cold terrible food. So I do, and did, and at the end of the complaint it asks "would you like someone to contact you?" I thought to myself, heh right, but what the heck, maybe they will actually care. It's been 2 months now and I haven't heard a thing from Wendy's.

This leads me to tonight. Same deal, got hungry about 8 pm, waiting until about 9:30 pm, to let it cool down outside, it's been 90-100 here in Florida recently. So at 9:30 I leave and after one stop I arrive at Wendy's at 9:49 pm. I park my motorcycle, mind you "motorcycles are not served at the drive through" and proceed to go inside. I see employees and about 8 people inside eating. I reach down to grab the handle of the door, and pull, and it's locked!? The sign on the door clearly says on weeknights the diner closes at 10pm, and the drive through at 11pm. So I'm shocked it's already 10pm, I go back to my bike to check the time, and I see it's only 9:50!

I'm pretty pissed off at this point. This would mean to get food, now I have to go 10 miles or so down the road. So I pull around to the back of the store, an 18 wheeler is there unloading supplies and an employee is out there with the truck taking count. I ask her why the doors are locked it's only 9:50 pm and she gives me a snarl and says "I'll have to take it up with the manager." I was pretty nasty to her and said "Oh ya, I'll be taking this up with the manager alright." I leave and go down to the other Wendy's location, a pretty good ride for me, when there was no need.

I went in, asked for a manager and explained what happened. I asked him to please find me the number of the district manager or local corp office. At first he was reluctant, but after he saw and I explained I wasn't leaving until I had some number, he seemed to be able to find the "BOOK" of numbers.

While he was assisting the drive through also, I was talking with the counter girl, she was very nice, and during this whole time, I was polite as well. Rudeness gets you nowhere. I told her about the motorcycle thing, and she laughed and said that's the first she's heard of such a rule, she serves them all the time! Now my face is getting red and I'm about to blow inside! So after only 3 or 4 minutes, the manager got his book, and right in front of me wrote down 2 numbers for me.

The saddest part is, I already know nothing will be done about any of this, if I can even get a live person tomorrow. They just don't care about customers anymore or customer service in most places. The harsh reality is, that Wendy's and its other corporations make so much money, that customer service just doesn't matter to them anymore. They will continue to make tons of money because of people today and their values. I can't count how many reviews and complaints I read on here and they say " I will never visit that location again, and 'maybe' won't visit others."

The sad truth to that is, you will go back, because most people in today's age are lazy, like me, and just don't care about how or who gets their hard earned dollar. Or those who have lots of money, maybe got it the easy way free, just don't value good service anymore.

If a place treats you like this, you SHOULD NEVER go back, unless they right the wrong! And my friends Wendy's couldn't care less about us anymore. All they care about is lining the corporate pockets with green, opening more locations, serving more cold terrible food, paying employee's minimum wage so we get terrible service, and the like..

So tomorrow I will make my best attempt to contact the regional manager for this area. Even if I can contact them, or get a return call. I seriously doubt anything will be done. They really need to restructure the training courses for managers and employees, if they even exist. So the best thing I can do? I WILL NEVER GIVE WENDY's ONE RED CENT MORE of my HARD EARNED money! They can jump off a bridge. After 36 years, it looks like you're all doing a great job at horrible service, horrible food, and getting rich from it. This is one ex-Wendy's / Arby's customer. Good riddance..

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Don't Go to Work for FSMC DBA Wendy's
By -

WILMINGTON NC / CLEMSON SC, NORTH CAROLINA -- I have some inside information in regards as to how the managers of Wendy's Restaurants which are owned by the First Sun Management Corporation of Clemson, SC. Recently, a new store was opened in Greenville, NC. This store is so understaffed that it's not funny. The District Managers for FSMC are mandating that managers from their Wilmington and Jacksonville NC stores drive to this new store in Greenville NC to work to help the new store out. Now, normally, this is not a cause for alarm. However, there are some interesting and upsetting facts to this mandate:

Managers are required to go there on their day off (Managers are salaried) and not receive any pay or other compensation for their (so-called personal) time. These managers are required to drive their personal vehicles to this new store in Greenville. The distance from the Wendy's at Porter's Neck Rd in Wilmington NC to this new store is well over 100 miles one-way. These managers are required to provide their own gas for this trip. They have not been offered any type of reimbursement for the high cost of fuel these days. FYI Regular Unleaded gasoline in our area is a minimum of 2.50 per gallon at the moment and will most likely be much higher when these trips begin.

These managers have been threatened with the loss of their jobs if they do not comply with the requests of their District Managers (Officed in Clemson SC). I think it is rather interesting that FSMC makes themselves look like such a good place to work, and then they do the old "bait-and-switch" like this. Personally, I would flat out REFUSE to drive my personal vehicle that great of a distance when I was required to do so to keep my job and my bosses happy and not receive any type of reimbursement for the amount of gasoline it takes to travel that far, especially for only 3 hours of work per trip.

These managers have been told this is a one-time trip. What's to say that this couldn't turn into a thing where these people would be having to drive to this new store once, twice, or more per week? One of their new District Managers, a former General Manager (individual store manager) has been known to remove funds from her store's safe in order to fund personal purchases and other unauthorized expenditures. In the past one or two of the Assistant Managers at this particular store has been accused of misplacing funds since their daily deposits were coming up short. I see a red flag here.

One of their new General Managers (individual store manager) has been observed using extremely vulgar, foul, abusive, and violent behavior towards his employees. He has been heard cursing at them where every customer present in the store could hear every single word. He has been observed throwing chairs at his employees and making other obscene gestures or comments. Is this the type of people you want running a restaurant where you are eating? I would not like to eat in this type of establishment. I would not want to give my money to a company that subjects their employees to this type of behavior.

Personally, I have refused to eat at any of the Wendy's in eastern North Carolina for these reasons. My employer treats me with respect and always offers to reimburse me if I have to use my personal vehicle for any business related travel. How a company that strives on quality can treat their hard working employees in this manner, is beyond me.

I imagine that Dave Thomas is rolling over in his grave over things like this. I am sure that when he started the Wendy's legacy, he never envisioned any of his employees being treated in this manner. If you like long hours, low pay, continued lack of recognition for any of your efforts, and being lied to repeatedly, go to work for these people. That's it for now. Thanks.

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RAW Burgers & Order Incorrect
By -

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO -- I have been going to the Wendy's in Colorado Springs on Academy/San Miguel for the past few years now (maybe 6 times a year). The past few times (this year) have been just awful. Dirty store, very rude employees, nasty cold/old food. I went this last time on 12/12. Went through the drive through about 6 pm. Ordered a #1 combo WITH cheese, no onion extra pickle. Also a quarter pound double stack w/ cheese, no onion extra pickle. We got home and my partner opened her #1 combo burger, it had no cheese even though we were charged on the receipt. It only had catsup, no lettuce, no tomato, no extra pickles. It was just a hamburger with catsup.

The receipt was typed in right though, it said cheese, no onion, extra pickle. Her fries were also very cold, which we noticed on the ride home, but thought we will just nuke them when we get home. Why would there be cold fries at 6 pm??? I opened my quarter pound double stack and, although it did have cheese, it had nothing else on there at all. I got the catsup and mustard out to doctor my burger up. I took a bite and noticed right away it was cold and tasted funny. I looked and the patties were RAW. I don't mean a little pink, I mean RAW. Very disgusting. I spit the bite out and saved the burger in the fridge in case I end up with E-coli now.

Needless to say, I called the "Manager" in charge after I returned from the nearby BK and got my dinner. Her name was Angela. When I was first describing the burgers and how none of the condiments were on there like they were ordered, her voice sounded like it was a big joke. She started giggling sarcastically (like I was making it up) and said, "OK, just come back in then and we will replace it." She did not even finish listening to the complaint. She acted like I was calling to get free food and she just wanted to hurry up and get my name and get rid of me. I told her I was not done and that she handed out very raw hamburger on the double stack.

THEN she got serious and apologized and said that they have standards so that doesn't happen and if I came back she will replace it. I told her flat out I would never eat at that store again. I told her if she wanted to call the Wendy's on N. Academy and have them replace my food that would be okay. She said she would do that. I asked for a complaint # and she said they don't have a 1-800# I can call to complain.

Today I called the store on N. Academy today to see if she actually called them (today is the 19th so it has been one week) and the manager there had no clue what I was talking about. He did say he would replace my food though and he did apologize about the whole situation. I asked him for a complaint phone # because I still plan on complaining about the first store. He said there is no 1-800# but he had a local # for the Wendy's in CO Springs.

I plan on complaining to them on Monday. It is one thing if it is just cold food, or the order is made wrong. It is very dangerous to hand out hamburger that has not been thoroughly cooked. You can really make someone very sick or even kill them. How many people have to get sick because of employee and management indifference? This goes higher than just the store level too. I know there are costs each store has to meet. However, sacrificing public safety to save on labor and training costs is NOT the way.

I know it doesn't do any good to call the health dept (but I AM going to). I used to manage restaurants, Jack in the Box & Denny's. When the Health Dept. comes into even the most disgusting stores, they do not close them down. There can be roaches, mice, food storage equipment not working and they still do not close them down. They give them a month to comply, then even if things don't get fixed or cleaned up, they just keep giving more time. I also think it is very poor customer service to not offer a 1-800 complaint phone number, or an email address to complain to. I have been on their website (Wendys.com) looking.

All they have is a long distance # and an address to write to. This is stated next to the address: "We'd love to hear your comments or questions about Wendy's® or this website. While we are unable to respond to every piece of mail personally due to the high volume we receive, your comments will be given serious consideration." This sure gives me the impression they do NOT care one bit. If anyone needs the local CO Springs Home Office phone # email me & I will give it to you.

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Drive Thru Customers - From an Employee
By -

TULSA, OKLAHOMA -- OK I work at a Wendy's in Tulsa OK (not going to say which one as most of you will want to shoot me after reading this). Keep in mind I work the drive through (EVERY NIGHT till 1 am *sigh*). So here's my top list of things that annoy the piss out of me and my co-workers.

  1. This IS WENDY'S!!! W-E-N-D-Y-S! Not Mcdonald's, not Burger King, not Sonic. We don't have McNuggets. We have chicken nuggets, we BIGGIE size here, or at least say large size, but for **'s sake don't ask me to Sonic size your combo. They are called kid's meals, not big kid's meals, and not happy meals. We do not sell Roast Beef sandwiches, Whoppers or Big Mac's! We do NOT have the 5 for 5.55 that Arby's! Asking for any of these things will result in us looking at you like you a complete moron.

  2. The word "Uhhhhhhhh." One of the most annoying this when I ask someone their order. "Uhhhhhhh I uh want... Ummmmm a number uhh 6 with... Ummmm a... Uh Dr. Pepper. And uhhh..." Stop it people. You are driving me nuts! This will also have us looking at you like you are stupid.

  3. Drunken morons. I'm not against getting drunk, but hell don't come bother us with your drunken stupidity, and you WILL get 5-0 called if I see open bottles. Stay at the bar till ya sober up! Depending on how much we are annoyed these customers get anything from a sandwich smashing to being pulled up waiting for fries while we call 5-0.

  4. Water at the window. Water is still free if you order it at the speaker! Countless people come up and the first thing they say before giving me change, "Can I get a wata?". Which brings me to another point...

  5. Plain at the window. Order your sandwich and be done with it. Realize that by the time you get to the window your sandwich is probably already made and in the bag, asking for plain or no mayo/ketchup/mustard means we have to remake the whole thing and BAM smash goes your sandwich.

  6. False combo's or false sandwiches. Basically when you say "I want a number 2" but get to the window and say "Oh I only wanted the sandwich," or say "I want a double with cheese and expect to get a combo". COMMUNICATE PEOPLE! If you want the combo say NUMBER whatever, if you don't say NUMBER or at least COMBO then don't expect to get a combo. Ordering a double with cheese with a coke will get a sandwich and a coke. Not the combo. We are not psychic! Doing this will result in dirty looks from the drive through person as he/she has to re-ring up the whole combo.

One last thing. Most customers don't realize but Wendy's keeps its employees on a timer. *cough* Nazis *cough* When you pull up to the speaker it starts and doesn't stop till you leave the window. The higher the time the more frustrated employees will be with you. Please be mindful of this and pull forward to check your order/unwrap your food or whatever. If you are the window checking your order and half the crew is staring at you in a homicidal manner, that is your queue to pull up a few feet.

Sorry if I'm going off a bit here. I've worked at Wendy's a year and a half, haven't gotten a raise since 2002 and am only making 35 cents more than when I started. I've been told I'm getting raises on my last 2 paychecks and surprise, surprise no raises. And no I'm not some lazy slacker or anything, in fact I'm getting Employee of the Year. I'm writing this to vent as working back window is probably the most stressful position at Wendy's.

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To Whom It may Concern
By -

To Whom It May Concern,

I am not an employee, nor have I ever been an employee. It has come to my attention that your crew and shift leaders are very miss treated at the Red Bluff store #26. Better yet let me start this off by asking a question. Is the one they call Norma, an Assistant Manager or General Manager? If she is then she needs to go to business school. Not only is it unprofessional to have a relationship in the work place, but it can be considered sexual harassment to her co-workers, especially when she is lecturing one of her fellow Shift leaders, while sitting on the G. M's Lap. Norma continues to talks down to her crew and Shift leaders, humiliating them as to make them feel like children, telling them they don't know what they are doing or going as far as calling them "Stupid" or telling them to "just shut up and listen".

I have many other concerns such as, whoever is putting in the times, is adjusting the times to say they clocked out at 12:15am, for both shift leader and crew that closes. Which in fact, employees are not able to get out of the store until 12:35am or later. If your policy is to shut the frosty machine down at Midnight, and it is supposed to be defrosting for fifteen minutes, and then put away and cleaned. It is a minimum thirty min process, should they not get paid for doing their job until they clock out? What happens to that time? And why are they not getting paid overtime that is due to them, especially when they are working doubles.

My main concern is that I have heard from several employees, that they can't stand up for themselves when they feel they are being done wrong or being mistreated. If they say something or they stand up for themselves, they get their hours cut, or worse taken off the schedule so they get no hours at all, and are force to quit. I understand Norma is the one that makes the schedule for Wendy's, but in my experience, the max you can suspend someone is 1 week anything longer they are to be terminated.

The G. M. needs to step up and take control of his store instead of letting Norma run it. Numerous time employees have called because of an issue and cannot get a hold of their G. M. and he doesn't call them back, who are they supposed to call when they have an issue regarding the store or other problems? Because if they call "Mark” (The District Manager) they will be fired (for example Viena and Alberto). Also the employees at Wendy's have been told not to talk to John at Am Pm, because if they find out who is talking to him telling him what is going on in the store, that there is going to be consequences.

In conclusion, I hope that this letter can help the employees at Wendy's. But this is just a little of what is going on and I just wish it was coming from the employees, and not me. Just to let you know that this letter was duplicated and is being sent to the Better Business Bureau. Along with the demeaning Management letter that all shift leaders had to sign. Resulting in a shift leader to quit.

Sad thing is I took this off your web site:
We believe the foundation of our success lies in our adherence to a core set of values that encompass everything we do. Quality Is Our Recipe, Do The Right Thing, Treat People With Respect, Profit Means Growth, Give Something Back
Yours truly, Concerned Customer.

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Wendy's Rating:
Star Half star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.6 out of 5, based on 77 ratings and
301 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Wendy's
One Dave Thomas Blvd.
Dublin, OH 43017
888-624-8140 (ph)
www.wendys.com
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