Wendy's French Fries Will Be Getting A 'Crispy' Update, More 'Delivery Friendly'

Wendy’s says by mid-September it will have new and improved “french fries” on the menu in all of its restaurants.

The question “who has the best fast-food french fries” has come up at least once in everyone’s life, and with the fast-food restaurant industry undergoing many changes, new french fries are Wendy’s way of stepping it up.

The newly formulated french fries will retain more heat and keep their crispiness longer compared to current fries which were last improved in 2010.

“One side is built with a thicker side, and it's built for heat retention, while the other side is thinner and that’s really to enhance crispiness because we know our customers want hot and crispy fries every time,” Emily Kessler, Wendy’s senior specialist for culinary and innovation, said in a Zoom press conference Thursday.

The crispier fries took the culinary team months to develop, a new formula that they claim beats McDonald’s fries in taste tests.

“Emily and the whole cross-functional team have spent months and months and months on perfecting the best hot, crispy French fry,” said John Li, Wendy’s vice president of culinary innovation. “and we finally have it. … We put some really hard effort into this with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears but to actually end up with a fry that is nearly two-to-one preference versus our primary competitor McDonald's, it's pretty exciting.”

Wendy’s President Kurt Kane told CNN Business in an interview that they have added multiple steps to achieve the crispiness they were looking for.

"What we've done is balance the cut of the fry and kept a little bit of the skin of the potato on the fry to be able to drive flavor. We used a batter system that allows us to be able to maintain crispiness, both when they're fresh and hot out of the fryer as well as several minutes later," he said.

The fast-food chain says the fries can stay crispy for up to 15-30 minutes, which helps the growing demand for delivery food services. Keeping food fresh by the time it reaches the customer has become a new challenge for all chains.

“We know COVID changed the game when it comes to how our customers are getting their food,” Kessler said in the Zoom meeting. “That accelerated the need to develop to make sure our fries are withstanding that delivery experience.”

The fries will be available in the U.S. and Canada.