US Wendy's "We Can't Sell Burgers Without Beef Patties"

Due to COVID-19 Disruptions in Meat Supply Chain, Sales of Beef-Containing Menu Items Restricted

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] Fast food chain Wendy's is limiting the sale of hamburgers containing beef. This is due to disruptions in the meat supply chain caused by shutdowns at U.S. meat processing plants amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to CNBC on the 5th (local time), some Wendy's locations in the U.S. have been confirmed to restrict the sale of beef-containing hamburgers. Market research firm Stevenson analyzed the menus of over 5,500 Wendy's stores in the U.S. and found that about 19%, or 1,043 stores, are temporarily not selling beef-containing menu items.

This comes after major U.S. meat processing companies, including Tyson Foods?the largest in the U.S.?and Smithfield Foods, experienced COVID-19 cases among employees, leading to shutdown measures and causing disruptions in the meat supply chain. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 20 meat plants from Pennsylvania to Washington state have been indefinitely closed due to COVID-19. As a result, last week’s beef production nationwide dropped by 35% compared to the same period last year. The USDA expects meat prices to rise by about 2%. Although U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order to keep meat processing plants operational, production levels remain below normal.

Photo by Getty Images Bank, not related to the article.

In particular, Wendy's uses fresh meat rather than frozen meat, making it more affected than competitors like Burger King or McDonald's. Since the 1980s, Wendy's has built its brand image using the slogan "Where's the beef?" targeting competitors whose hamburgers have smaller beef patties.

As disruptions in the meat supply chain continue, the alternative meat market is gaining attention. On the 5th, Beyond Meat announced first-quarter earnings with sales of $97.1 million (approximately 118.7 billion KRW). This represents a 141.4% increase compared to the same period last year and exceeds Wall Street’s forecast of $88.3 million.

Following the unexpectedly strong earnings, Beyond Meat’s stock price rose more than 4% in after-hours trading that day.

Ethan Brown, CEO of Beyond Meat, said, "Despite the increasingly challenging business environment due to COVID-19, we are proud of our first-quarter results that exceeded expectations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.