Fast-food giant Wendy’s has tapped restaurant industry heavyweight Robert Wright as its new president and CEO in a major executive shake-up — just days after reports surfaced that billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz could be eyeing a dramatic takeover bid.
Wright officially takes the reins on May 21, replacing interim boss Kenneth Cook, who stepped in after former CEO Kirk Tanner jumped ship last year to lead chocolate titan Hershey.
The burger chain’s new chief is no stranger to the fast-food wars. Wright most recently ran sandwich chain Potbelly Corp and previously held top leadership roles at Wendy’s, Domino’s Pizza and Charleys Philly Steaks — giving him serious firepower as he returns to the red-haired burger empire.
The leadership bombshell lands amid growing Wall Street buzz that Peltz’s Trian Fund Management is quietly exploring investor backing for a potential move to take Wendy’s private.
Despite losing the corner office, Cook isn’t going anywhere — Wendy’s confirmed he’ll stay on as chief financial officer as the company braces for its next chapter.
This comes three months after the Dublin, Ohio-based company said that its global same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 10% in the October-December period. That was worse than the 8.5% drop expected by analysts polled by FactSet.
U.S. same-store sales fell even further in the fourth quarter. Wendy’s said late last year that it planned to close underperforming U.S. restaurants, but it gave more details about those closures Friday.
Wendy’s said it already closed 28 restaurants in the fourth quarter and ended 2025 with 5,969 U.S. locations. It expects to close between 5% and 6% of its U.S. restaurants – or 298 to 358 locations – in the first half of this year.
Those actions come on top of the closure of 240 U.S. Wendy’s locations in 2024. At the time, the 57-year-old chain said many of its locations are simply out of date.
Like McDonald’s, Taco Bell and other rivals, Wendy’s also plans to emphasize value as it tries to win back inflation-weary customers.
“One learning from 2025 around value, we swung the pendulum too far towards limited-time price promotions instead of everyday value,” said Ken Cook, Wendy’s interim CEO and chief financial officer, in a conference call with investors in February.
