Wendy鈥檚 plans to close 140 U.S. restaurants before the end of this year on top of the 100 it said it would close in May.
But in a conference call with investors Thursday, the company said those closures will be offset by new restaurant openings. Wendy鈥檚 said it plans to open between 250 and 300 restaurants this year.
Wendy鈥檚 President and CEO Kirk Tanner said the restaurants that are closing are underperforming compared to others.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e just in locations that don鈥檛 build our brands,鈥� Tanner said. 鈥淵ou look at a brand that鈥檚 55 years old and some of those restaurants are quite out of date.鈥�
Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy鈥檚 didn鈥檛 provide a list of the locations to be closed. But Tanner said they are spread out all over the country.
鈥淥ur focus is on building new restaurants because we know they deliver well over the average of these poor-performing restaurants,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e, overall, want the best restaurants for the customers and that customer experience we want to deliver.鈥�
Wendy鈥檚 had 7,292 restaurants at the end of the third quarter. More than 80% of them are in the U.S.
Wendy's shares rose 3.5% in midday trading Friday.
U.S. restaurant sales have seen little growth this year as many consumers pushed back against . Wendy鈥檚 same-store sales 鈥� or sales at locations open at least a year 鈥� were up less than 1% in the U.S. in the first half of this year.
Earlier in October, Denny's announced by the end of 2025. And Red Lobster in May after closing dozens of stores.