WENDY'S

While Wendy's has never been the most memorable of fast food restaurants growing up (that of course went to McDonald's), Wendy's still ranks up there, with iconic architecture and still having things like kids' meals.

In fact, Wendy's was probably more seen on trips than what I ate at when I was home...at least before around January 2005 when a new restaurant opened near me (and for a time was the closest fast food to my house).

Wendy's was founded by Dave Thomas back in 1969 and until its sale to Triarc Companies in 2008 was one of the few independent major fast food companies that never saw a larger corporate owner. I've had someone tell me the death of founder (and star of most of the commercials) Dave Thomas in 2002 effectively end Wendy's as a slightly more upmarket fast food competitor to other choices like McDonald's and Burger King. There's not a lot I can say about Wendy's or its menu items. Most of their promotional items were few and far between, and forgettable. I don't even remember their "ciabatta sandwiches" all that well, and I only vaguely when the Baconator was released. I do remember the Vanilla Frosty much better, though. It was sort of a big deal...they had inflatables on a few Wendy's restaurants back in November 2006...with a white-colored Frosty! Seems odd that it took until 2006 to have what was in essence a vanilla milkshake but we'll let it slide.

What we have here in this new page is a 1995 Nutrition Guide that shows the salad bar ingredients! At this time, beyond the salad bar there was only a very basic hamburger menu, chili, and a baked potato. Here, it's known as the "Garden Spot". For an even briefer time, some stores had the "Superbar" which added Mexican and Italian items.

While I do intend adding the full guide someday I'll just add the actual ingredient list. The exception is on the main side where they list the burger menu.

A lot of the stuff on there is just stock, pre-made ingredients. I remember that banana-and-strawberry glaze from another place, possibly Golden Corral or a Chinese buffet or maybe even Gattiland from many years ago. However, I also know that even if everything is pre-made, it adds a ton of labor costs to the operation. I have worked in foodservice (pizza specifically) and cleaning out ingredient bins is just cumbersome. Everything has little food bits stuck to it. The ham had juice collecting in the bottom, the bacon is horrifically greasy, and the mushrooms will smell like death if they aren't cleaned out.

Self-serve salad bars in particular were known even in the late 1990s for harboring bacteria, and in 2020, panic over health concerns wiped out struggling buffet chains like Ryan's and Sweet Tomatoes. (As a general rule, I find buffets disgusting.)