Food Business News - January 29, 2013 - 13

Wendy’s backs further away
from breakfast strategy
Chain shifts focus from the morning meal to image overhaul

DUBLIN, OHIO — The most important meal of
the day has not been a particularly profitable
one for The Wendy’s Co. In a presentation at
the ICR XChange Conference in Miami on Jan.
16, the company said it will discontinue breakfast in some markets.
“We will still have 375 to 400 restaurants in
breakfast … but breakfast is not really going
to be a top priority for us in this next three-year
period of time,” said Emil Brolick, president
and chief executive officer for Wendy’s. “Longer term, we might well come back to that, but
that’s when we find a much more profitable
way to approach that day part opportunity.”
Wendy’s has been working to retool its
breakfast strategy in an effort to be more competitive in what Mr. Brolick identified in an
Aug. 9 conference call with financial analysts

to discuss the company’s second quarter results as “the strongest performing Q.S.R. day
part for the past five years.”
“We want our share of this business, but we
want it to be a profitable share for our system,”
he said in August. “We will be making refinements to our testing of AM Access with the
goal of providing consumers a unique morning
meal experience that reflects our commitment
to playing a different game versus just trying to
play the same game better.”
Part of the company’s strategy included a
coffee campaign for Redhead Roasters.

January 29, 2013

Looking ahead, Wendy’s will refocus its efforts on brand transformation and marketing,
as well as recent introductions such as the
Right Price Right Size value program, which is
off to a strong start since its January launch,
Mr. Brolick said.
“As we look to 2013, we are optimistic about
our product pipeline and marketing plans,” he
said on Jan. 16. “We are also very encouraged
by the continued success of our image activation initiative, which is transforming our brand
in the eyes of consumers by contemporizing
the Wendy’s restaurant experience.”
The image overhaul includes updated menu
boards that were rolled out at the end of 2012;
a new logo, which will appear in advertising at
the end of February and on packaging throughout the year; and new uniforms, to be introduced in the third quarter of this year.
Consistency in messaging is another
area of focus for Wendy’s.
“One of the things you’re going to
see in 2013 is a better balance of what
we call our high- and low-end messages,” Mr. Brolick said. “If you would
look at the past 15 months, what you
would see is that we have built share
of large hamburger; built share of
large chicken sandwiches; and held a
leadership position in share of salads.
At the other end, though, we have lost
share in that price/value area and have
lost traffic in that area. We believe that
that is simply the result of we have not had
a consistent message in the price/value area
while many of our large competitors have had
that kind of a message. We believe that the
launch of the Right Price Right Size Menu is
a first and very important step in beginning to
address that.”
Wendy’s will build a “strong marketing presence” around its late-night menu and what the
company considers to be its more innovative
products, such as the bacon Portobello melt
and berry almond chicken salad, Mr. Brolick
said. FBN

ConAgra Foods
appoints Lamb
Weston leader
OMAHA — Greg Schlafer has
been named president of ConAgra
Foods, Inc.’s Lamb Weston business unit, effective Feb. 25. He will
step into a position that has been
the responsibility of Paul Maass,
president of Commercial Foods for
ConAgra, for more than a year.
“Greg brings a customer-focused
approach, 20-plus years of experience in the food industry, and a
proven track record of success in
the commercial/business-to-business space,” Mr. Maass said. “I’m
confident his
leadership will
add
tremendous value for
our customers,
our suppliers,
and our team
as we continue
maximizing the
long-term po- Schlafer
tential of this
important part of ConAgra Foods’
business.”
Mr. Schlafer was most recently
vice-president of the Bakeries &
Foodservice division for General
Mills, Inc., Minneapolis. FBN

Seneca Foods
completes purchase
of Independent Foods
MARION, N.Y. — Seneca Foods
Corp. has completed its acquisition
of Sunnyside, Wash.-based Independent Foods, L.L.C., a privatelyheld processor of canned pears,
apples and cherries.
The acquisition was first announced in November, and terms
of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We believe these operations
are a complementary fit with our
existing canned fruit business,”
said Kraig Kayser, president and
chief executive officer for Seneca
Foods. “We are very excited about
this acquisition and the addition
of the Sunnyside, Wash., facility to
our production facilities and the
extension of our product offerings
it brings to our company.” FBN

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Food Business News - January 29, 2013

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