The Surprising Reason Wendy’s Burgers Are Square

No matter where you go, fast-food burgers look, almost uniformly, the same round, flat burgers. Except Wendy’s, which has square burgers.

The reason for the atypical shape can be traced back to Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas. In 1969, he opened the first Wendy’s in Columbus, Ohio, in the United States, because he was not satisfied with the other options. To make it distinctive compared to Wendy’s competing eateries, he used fresh meat shaped into a square shape.

The corners of Wendy’s hamburgers stick out of the buns. In this way, Thomas believed that customers would see the quality of the hamburger, in keeping with the company’s history.

The company has long used square burgers in its marketing campaigns. For example, the restaurant chain often says that “cutting corners is not in Wendy’s DNA”.

There is also a practical reason for the square shape.

“We can put more square burgers on a single grill than we can round ones,” John Li, vice president of culinary innovation at Wendy’s Company, told CNN Business.

The use of fresh meat instead of frozen also helped the chain’s sales.

“We build long-lasting and trusted relationships with our partners to ensure we can deliver the iconic fresh, never frozen square burgers that our fans have come to expect and love,” said Li.

Competitors have noticed this, including McDonald’s in 2018 when it switched from frozen beef to fresh beef in most of its half-pound hamburgers sold in the United States. In Japan, the chain is currently trying out square buns (the hamburgers are still round) for a special promotion.

White Castle fast-food chain also uses square hamburgers — an invention that actually predates Wendy’s. In keeping with its history, the chain started in 1921 selling easy-to-eat square burgers called “Sliders”. In 1954, White Castle added five holes to the burger so they could cook faster.

Wendy’s looked into the possibility of switching to round burgers about a decade ago, because perfectly square shapes looked like processed meat to focus groups. However, a round hamburger would be antithetical to founder Thomas’ vision. Instead, Wendy’s slightly tweaked the shape to a “natural square” with jagged edges.

Changing the burgers too much could damage your reputation.

“The square hamburger is part of the Wendy’s brand experience and has been used as a differential in the fast-food category”, according to Marisa Mulvihill, partner and head of brand and activation at global consultancy Prophet.

“Moving to round burgers requires leaving behind its inspiring history and distinctive experience, which will likely diminish the relevance of the Wendy’s brand a little.”