Does this establishment, which used to be commonplace in Taiwan, still exist? If so, where?
It’s gone. I’m sure there are a few threads about it. Its return would be welcome.
I’d give my right finger for a Wendy’s hamburger.
I would love if Wendy’s came back to TW, better food then McDonalds and Burger King combined!
we had one in chung li a long time ago … now BK is gone too, and from taoyuan too …
all we’re left with is Mcpukes and (thank goodness) a Subway.
i don’t patronize much, but some of the wendy’s fare was a nice change after a month of rice …
gosh, wendy’s…haven’t seen them around for the longest time, there used to be a giganic one on tienmou west road, and one in the malaysian airlines building next to xin dong yang/asiaworld back in the day, the 3rd daughter worked at that branch in the movie Eat, Drink, Man, Woman
Wendy’s officially pulled out of the Taiwan market 3 or 4 years ago. It is too bad as they were a decent fast food alternative. Don’t think they will be back as McD’s has a stranglehold on the market. Even that fried chicken chain Gold 'n Tex or whatever it was named seems to have vanished.
gosh, wendy’s…haven’t seen them around for the longest time, there used to be a giganic one on Tianmu west road, and one in the malaysian airlines building next to xin dong yang/asiaworld back in the day, the 3rd daughter worked at that branch in the movie Eat, Drink, Man, Woman[/quote]
ahhh…i remember that movie. dang dating my self.
Out of curiosity, when a chain comes into town like Wendy’s Mr Donut icescream whatever, are ingredients all sourced locally? or imported?
I’d think if sourced localy then the flavor would be “off” but importing sounds expensive…
I don’t know why they pulled out of the cash cow that is Taiwan - Wendy’s was very popular here.
People bought their chicken and ice cream, but not the burgers or baked potatoes.
Church’s Texas Chicken (later California) had problems with their francise liscence (mainly that they hadn’t paid any fees for quite some time) resulting in the change in name. People did not dig the new menu. So they went tits up. (or so I was told)
I was told the following about Wendy’s by a Taiwanese friend of mine a few years back. According to his story, Wendy’s is owned by Pepsi, who also owns KFC. Both chains were losing money, so they were forced to make a decision. They chose to focus on one of the chains here and close the other.
Yeah, I remember once, in Taichung heading over to Church’s for a chicken burger and saw “California” on the sign (I hadn’t been there in many months).
I figured little change.
Man, was I wrong. Shitty service (and I mean shittier than the shittiest local standard), an even more pared down menu (like 8 items, it seemed), worse food that had no semblence of the Chruch’s days, and really, really, REALLY shitty menu items like Curry rice (basically boil a bag of instant curry and throw it on poorly cooked rice) for an insane price (like 90 NT, when a local buffet up the street would sell a whole lunch box full for 50 nT).
As horrible as it sounds, cheapass Taiwanese entrepaneurs who think they can do better stealign the formula they didn’t completely understand - that they paid for.
As per usual: results are disasterous.
I predict a death of Subway within a couple of years.
Subway are notorious for being the least-franchisee freindly fast food chain in the world. High maintainence and serious franchise fees and profit percentage-take.
7-11 are already offering really ass Hokklo versions of “subs” that jack up the price, skimp on anything good, and taste like shit.
Add to that the Subway plagerism - er “inspired restaurant” and I think Subway will go the way of Church’s.
I’m still amazed BK exists (though all of the ones in Taichung are gone). Thank god that they do.
While your aquaintance’s suspicion is logical, Wendy’s Brand isn’t/ wasn’t owned by Pepsico, though KFC most certainly is/was.
I remember being bummed out that EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN’s Wendy’s tie-in is now a relic of cinema and Taiwan’s history fo decent businesses being killed by bizarre, local lemmingism.
All hail the McGod at the temple of JinDaChi, in Taiwan.
The FROSTY(like a mcd’s milkshake, but way thicker almost like a soft serve icecream consistancy, had to be be eaten with a spoon) and hamburgers were wendy’s best menu items…
I remember going into Wendy’s and ordering a double. The help freaked out. They had never made one before.
wendy’s in taiwan also had huge salad bars, gigantic islands occupying 1/6 usable store space…i wonder how they ever kept those tubs of chopped produce fresh…employees must have had some of the best take-home leftover salad dinners each night
horrible business plan…but they had their customer fan-base