Fast-Casual Nation. To compete with the likes of Five Guys, the Big Three burger empires are raising their game.
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Wendy's senior vice president Denny Lynch says his company feared getting squeezed between the Five Guys of the world and convenience stores like 7-Eleven. "You don't want to get stuck in the middle," he says. So around 2009, Wendy's started upgrading its menu: first salads, then french fries, then chicken sandwiches and burgers. Now Wendy's salads have fresh strawberries. Its french fries are topped with sea salt. Its burger patties are thicker. It uses red onions instead of white and crinkle-cut pickles instead of ordinary dill.
How does the new breed of fast food stack up against its fast-casual competitors? We pitted newer menu items from the Big Three burger chains against similar dishes from Chipotle, Five Guys and Panera Bread. The results--including an upset!--are on the opposite page.
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