Wendy's moves more slowly than most fast-food chains.
The number two U.S. burger chain has been very protective of its menus. For decades, the focus was on executing its "fresh, never frozen" menu, and not on innovating and offering new things.
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Even in recent years, when Wendy's (WEN) -) has been offering unique items like its Pretzel Pub Burger, the chain has limited its innovation attempts. The chain offers perhaps one new burger each quarter and often uses some of the ingredients from that limited-time offer to add a variant on its popular Baconator Fries.
Wendy's has also begun offering new flavors for its classic Frosty. From its invention in 1969 through the introduction of a vanilla flavor in 2006, Wendy's had offered only a single flavor -- chocolate -- of its signature treat, which is not quite a shake, not quite an ice cream.
In recent years, Wendy's has made the Strawberry Frosty a summer limited-time offer, and in countries outside the U.S. the chain has experimented with all sorts of flavors. The chain's Frosty machines can make only two flavors. That means that if it's going to add another flavor, either vanilla or chocolate has to go away.
And since Wendy's would never remove its original chocolate flavor from the menu, vanilla has to go if a seasonal flavor is to come in.
Earlier this summer, news reports circulated that the chain would be adding a Caramel Apple Frosty, a flavor previously offered in Canada. That assumption was made because Wendy's locations received deliveries of the caramel syrup used in that Frosty.
It turns out, however, that the syrup was for the chain's new Caramel Cold Brew and that the fall Frosty flavor will be something else entirely.
Image source: Shutterstock
Wendy's will have a new fall Frosty
While many consumers hoped for the Caramel Apple Frosty, Wendy's will instead be taking a more conventional route for its fall limited-time-offer Frosty flavor.
Like so many other chains, the burger giant will bring pumpkin spice to its menu when it adds the Pumpkin Spice Frosty to menus in early September.
"Wendy's is clearly just getting in on the fun as everything is getting the pumpkin spice treatment ahead of spooky season," Parade reported.
["Plus,] they’ve already proven that they will celebrate the holidays with limited-time Frosty flavors by previously unveiling the Peppermint Frosty, which marked the first-ever holiday flavor for the brand and the third new Frosty Flavor in the past 16 years."
While the new Pumpkin Spice Frosty technically debuts on Sept. 12, some locations will serve it sooner than that. Supplies to make the new treat will arrive at stores soon if they haven't already, and locations will offer it when they run out of the syrup needed to make the current limited-time flavor, strawberry.
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McDonald's and Burger King don't offer the Frosty
Wendy's has always stood out in that unlike McDonald's (MCD) -) and Burger King (QSR) -), it does not offer shakes or ice cream cones and sundaes. The chain has credited the Frosty for some of its success, according to Chief Executive Todd Penegor.
"The launch of the Ghost Pepper Ranch Chicken Sandwich and the return of Strawberry Frosty alongside continued profitable value with our Biggie Bag lineup contributed to our second-quarter growth," he said during the chain's second-quarter-earnings call.
"We will continue utilizing our ownable platforms like Made To Crave, Biggie, and Frosty to break through with our customers in new ways across the rest of the year."
Wendy's has also leveraged the Frosty brand for its new cold brew coffee.
"We expect to continue building on this momentum with our recently launched Frosty Cream Cold Brew, additional menu innovation launching soon, and more consistent promotional activity to drive trial and repeat," he added.
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