Update, June 11, 2020 10:17 a.m.: Wendy's confirmed that its beef supply is back to "near-normal" levels after experiencing a shortage in May, according to its latest SEC filing.
In the document, Wendy's confirmed that it had experienced a beef shortage last month as the supply chain has been disrupted amid COVID-19. Some menu items were limited during that time, but Wendy's said it and its delivery partners "effectively managed through this disruption by allocating beef to all Wendy’s system restaurants, with deliveries occurring two or three times a week, consistent with normal delivery schedules."
Today, you should have no problem getting whatever burger your heart desires, because the update in the filing went on to say beef supply has "returned to near-normal levels across the Wendy’s system."
Original, May 5, 2020 5:26 p.m.: Fast food chain Wendy's, and other restaurants that serve fresh beef, are facing threats of beef shortages as worries about the meat supply chain grow amid the COVID-19 outbreak, according to Restaurant Business.
According to the report, Wendy's has "struggled to maintain enough supply this past week" and to keep up with the demand for its burgers. Wendy's issued a statement saying that it is closely monitoring the situation.
“As you’ve likely read, there have been challenges among protein suppliers across North America,” Wendy’s spokesperson Heidi Schauer told the outlet: “We are working closely with our supplier partners and restaurant teams to minimize the impact to our customers and continue to monitor this closely.”
Delish reached out to Wendy's but did not immediately hear back.
Wendy's customers have posted about their experiences ordering at different locations, with many saying they have been told there is a temporary meat shortage and some saying they had to change their orders.
Many meat processing plants have temporarily closed over the past few weeks, leading people to fear that a meat shortage is coming to the U.S. Customers have been seeing bare meat cases in grocery stores and other restaurants have made shifts in their supply chain, such as McDonald's Canada, which recently announced that it will temporarily begin to source beef from outside of Canada.
Both McDonald's and Restaurant Brands International, which owns Burger King, told Restaurant Business that they don't expect any shortages, but RBI said it's obviously on the company's mind.
“It’s something we’re very acutely aware of,” said CEO of RBI Jose Cil on the company’s first quarter earnings call. “We’re monitoring on an hour and daily basis. Obviously, we’re working closely with suppliers to make sure we have our contingency plan.”
President Donald Trump has encouraged meat processing plants to re-open via an executive order last week and as plants begin to operate again (and take measures to protect employees), prices are expected to improve in the next few weeks executive vice president of analytics for Arrowstream David Maloni told Restaurant Business.
“The worst of it might be right now,” he said.
