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Food Safety & Quality Assurance
“Quality is our Recipe”

Wendy’s was built on fresh—a hallmark of food quality and the inspiration behind our founding motto, “Quality is our Recipe.”  When customers enjoy fresh food in our restaurants, it’s because freshness is also built into the things they don’t see, like our industry-leading processes and programs focused on providing a safe and wholesome food supply from our suppliers’ farms to our customers’ tables. We're always looking for ways to continuously improve and build greater traceability into our supply chains—a key element of our animal welfare program and responsible sourcing goal. 

Our ability to succeed is directly impacted by the quality, performance and innovation of our suppliers as well as our teams. To maintain strong supplier relationships, Wendy’s and its franchisees are members of Quality Supply Chain Co-op, Inc. SM. This independent cooperative works with leading suppliers to provide Wendy’s restaurants with products and services that offer quality, consistency and value. Wendy’s also continually invests in our Quality Assurance team and function, as all of the team members’ broad experience and capabilities in an everchanging industry is critical to our success.

Wendy’s Supplier Code of Conduct

We have always operated under a core set of values that begin and end with quality. These values extend to the long-standing, collaborative relationships we have with our trusted suppliers, and form the basis of the Wendy’s Code of Conduct. 

The code focuses on five areas that are important to our brand, our customers and our supply chain, including: 

  • Food safety and food ingredients; 
  • Farm animal health and well-being; 
  • Human rights and labor practices; 
  • Environmentally sustainable business practices; 
  • and business ethics and integrity.   

In addition to the assurances and third-party assessments required by the code, we also conduct our own regular Quality Assurance audits of the farms, plants, facilities and other operations locations of our suppliers. 

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Partnerships and Pilot Programs

We take pride in testing and learning with industry organizations and progressive supplier partners and knowing when to bring in experts who can help us raise the bar even higher.

cooked bacon strips
Bacon Blockchain Pilot Program
Bacon Blockchain Pilot Program

Did you know that blockchain tracks more than location? Blockchain is an innovative, emerging technology that’s gaining traction across industries, but it has yet to be widely adopted. It creates reliable, unalterable records across the supply chain, helping substantiate the responsible sourcing practices we are pursuing. As part of our efforts to gain greater supply chain visibility, Wendy’s completed a pilot program with supply chain partners to test the use of blockchain technology to track and trace some of our Applewood Smoked Bacon through the supply chain. In total, the pilot program successfully tracked the journey of our Applewood Smoked Bacon from farm to restaurant: from nearly 600 producers and 4.6 million hogs to more than 400 deliveries to Wendy’s restaurants.

RFID image scanning products
Piloting RFID Technology
Piloting RFID Technology

Wendy’s has tested radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging technology to potentially improve the traceability and efficiency in the way we handle supplies. These passive electronic tags affixed to cartons (of produce, meat, cutlery and other products) contain information about contents and expiration dates, and handheld readers make it easy to view that data. The pilot program identified potential benefits for time and labor savings, as well as increased traceability.

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Auditing for Safety and Quality
Auditing for Safety and Quality

Internal Wendy’s auditors visit supplier facilities to see for themselves how things are done and then bring this knowledge back to Wendy’s Restaurant Support Center. Before a supplier can be approved for the Wendy’s system, they must undergo and pass a third-party audit, as well as an Animal Welfare audit for animal-based ingredients. We also enlist independent, third-party auditors to validate what we do along with our suppliers.

EcoSure Logo
EcoSure® Partnership
EcoSure® Partnership

Wendy’s recently launched an enhanced Food Safety Assessment program in partnership with EcoSure®, a division of global hygiene and infection prevention expert Ecolab®. These assessments help to ensure Wendy’s restaurant operators around the globe build food-safe behaviors and adhere to best-in-class food safety and operational procedures.

We Safe Logo
WeSafe
WeSafe

Wendy’s is a long-time leader in the development and execution of quality processes and initiatives that are focused intensely on providing a safe and wholesome food supply, and we continue to look for ways to strengthen our processes further. Over the past several years, Wendy’s has invested in a new innovative digital system, called WeSafe, to help streamline the supply chain data tracking process needed for our quality assurance program. This system integrates all the unique data streams that measure the status of key menu items as they make their way through supply chains to our restaurants. For example, when tracking Wendy’s fresh, never-frozen beef sourced from North America (available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada), WeSafe tracks and analyzes production, product sampling, cold chain temperature data and more. The data WeSafe tracks is available to us and our suppliers in real-time. This level of transparency and quick collaboration further demonstrate our commitment to delivering the high-quality, safe food our customers expect.

Animal Welfare Council Logo
Animal Welfare Council
Animal Welfare Council

Since 2001, Wendy’s has had an Animal Welfare Council in place to shape our policies and help drive us forward. We have recently enhanced the council to bring in expertise in auditing, animal science, wellbeing and behavior, with specialties across our key protein categories. We also consult with public interest groups to ensure we benefit from a range of perspectives and push to continuously meet customer expectations.

Sensitech Logo
Expanding Cold Chain Monitoring with Sensitech
Expanding Cold Chain Monitoring with Sensitech

To increase visibility of key perishable menu items in the supply chain, we expanded the cold chain monitoring program through Sensitech, a multimodal enabled real-time Internet of Things (IoT) device that utilizes cellular triangulation communication to deliver complete visibility into the perishable supply chain, including monitoring temperature, location and light data.

EyeSucceed Logo
Testing Augmented Reality Smart Glasses
Testing Augmented Reality Smart Glasses

Wendy’s recently participated in a pilot program, in partnership with NSF EyeSucceed, to test the use of augmented reality smart glasses to support food safety, quality practices and oversight of Wendy’s suppliers and distribution centers as well as remote training and education for restaurant team members.

cooked bacon strips
Bacon Blockchain Pilot Program
Bacon Blockchain Pilot Program

Did you know that blockchain tracks more than location? Blockchain is an innovative, emerging technology that’s gaining traction across industries, but it has yet to be widely adopted. It creates reliable, unalterable records across the supply chain, helping substantiate the responsible sourcing practices we are pursuing. As part of our efforts to gain greater supply chain visibility, Wendy’s completed a pilot program with supply chain partners to test the use of blockchain technology to track and trace some of our Applewood Smoked Bacon through the supply chain. In total, the pilot program successfully tracked the journey of our Applewood Smoked Bacon from farm to restaurant: from nearly 600 producers and 4.6 million hogs to more than 400 deliveries to Wendy’s restaurants.

RFID image scanning products
Piloting RFID Technology
Piloting RFID Technology

Wendy’s has tested radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging technology to potentially improve the traceability and efficiency in the way we handle supplies. These passive electronic tags affixed to cartons (of produce, meat, cutlery and other products) contain information about contents and expiration dates, and handheld readers make it easy to view that data. The pilot program identified potential benefits for time and labor savings, as well as increased traceability.

clipboard image
Auditing for Safety and Quality
Auditing for Safety and Quality

Internal Wendy’s auditors visit supplier facilities to see for themselves how things are done and then bring this knowledge back to Wendy’s Restaurant Support Center. Before a supplier can be approved for the Wendy’s system, they must undergo and pass a third-party audit, as well as an Animal Welfare audit for animal-based ingredients. We also enlist independent, third-party auditors to validate what we do along with our suppliers.

EcoSure Logo
EcoSure® Partnership
EcoSure® Partnership

Wendy’s recently launched an enhanced Food Safety Assessment program in partnership with EcoSure®, a division of global hygiene and infection prevention expert Ecolab®. These assessments help to ensure Wendy’s restaurant operators around the globe build food-safe behaviors and adhere to best-in-class food safety and operational procedures.

We Safe Logo
WeSafe
WeSafe

Wendy’s is a long-time leader in the development and execution of quality processes and initiatives that are focused intensely on providing a safe and wholesome food supply, and we continue to look for ways to strengthen our processes further. Over the past several years, Wendy’s has invested in a new innovative digital system, called WeSafe, to help streamline the supply chain data tracking process needed for our quality assurance program. This system integrates all the unique data streams that measure the status of key menu items as they make their way through supply chains to our restaurants. For example, when tracking Wendy’s fresh, never-frozen beef sourced from North America (available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada), WeSafe tracks and analyzes production, product sampling, cold chain temperature data and more. The data WeSafe tracks is available to us and our suppliers in real-time. This level of transparency and quick collaboration further demonstrate our commitment to delivering the high-quality, safe food our customers expect.

Animal Welfare Council Logo
Animal Welfare Council
Animal Welfare Council

Since 2001, Wendy’s has had an Animal Welfare Council in place to shape our policies and help drive us forward. We have recently enhanced the council to bring in expertise in auditing, animal science, wellbeing and behavior, with specialties across our key protein categories. We also consult with public interest groups to ensure we benefit from a range of perspectives and push to continuously meet customer expectations.

Sensitech Logo
Expanding Cold Chain Monitoring with Sensitech
Expanding Cold Chain Monitoring with Sensitech

To increase visibility of key perishable menu items in the supply chain, we expanded the cold chain monitoring program through Sensitech, a multimodal enabled real-time Internet of Things (IoT) device that utilizes cellular triangulation communication to deliver complete visibility into the perishable supply chain, including monitoring temperature, location and light data.

EyeSucceed Logo
Testing Augmented Reality Smart Glasses
Testing Augmented Reality Smart Glasses

Wendy’s recently participated in a pilot program, in partnership with NSF EyeSucceed, to test the use of augmented reality smart glasses to support food safety, quality practices and oversight of Wendy’s suppliers and distribution centers as well as remote training and education for restaurant team members.

person at farm in personal protective gear
Adapting to Supply Chain Challenges

The COVID-19 global pandemic has had an acute impact on Wendy’s restaurant operations, supply chain and distribution practices. Just as we changed our approach to delivering outstanding restaurant experiences in the new environment by shifting to a predominantly drive-thru operating model with an increased focus on delivery and digital channels, we also quickly evolved our supply chain engagement.

"Traceability underscores our commitment to quality and we're actively exploring new avenues from farm to restaurant to get as far back in our supply chain as possible."

- Jorge Hernandez

Vice President, Quality Assurance

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