Dive Brief:
- Wendy’s is leaning into its digital business to drive growth and build loyalty, executives said on a Q2 2024 earnings call last week.
- The quick service restaurant highlighted its global digital sales, which grew by over 40% year over year. Its U.S. business — particularly through its app and loyalty platform — drove those gains.
- “Everything we are doing in this space is with the goal of creating and building loyalty and personalized experiences for our customers,” President and CEO Kirk Tanner said on the earnings call.
Dive Insight:
Wendy’s executives promised to double down on the company’s digital business in an effort to capitalize on the growth in the past year and build loyalty.
“Our focus on driving sales through our Wendy's app and loyalty platform continues to be successful, and our loyalty business is now almost as big as our third-party delivery business,” Tanner said.
Wendy’s continues to reap the rewards of its $15 million investment in its mobile app and loyalty program. The loyalty program grew 6% quarter over quarter — up to about 42 million, according to Tanner.
“You will see us continue to focus on improving the experience for customers. We are confident that this will drive loyalty even further and create more growth for the brand in the years to come,” Tanner said.
The restaurant has set aside $20 million to roll out a new digital menu board to improve order accuracy. Though it had only installed around 30 to 35 units, CFO Gunther Plosch said the results were promising and Wendy's aims to accelerate installations in the second half of the year.
“We like what we see,” Plosch said. “It's a good experience for our consumer. It's a good experience for our crew members since you obviously don't have to go out anymore and change our menu boards between rest of day and the breakfast menu.”
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect Wendy's loyalty program reaches 42 million users.
