“Bag Boys, Bag Boys, what you gonna do, what you gonna do when we bring your food?“

Grand Reopening Ceremony! Would we get free meals for a year?

Last summer, July 2023, the Wendy’s fast food restaurant near my house in Howard County, Maryland, USA, had a grand reopening ceremony after significant renovations. Leading up to the reopening, I was constantly served ads on social media stating that the first 100 people in line at the celebration would receive free Wendy’s for a year!

This location is right near my house, so it’s an ideal place to have lunch or pick up a quick bite to eat or a drink. I texted the details to my family and we made plans to line up about an hour prior to the start of the event. When we arrived, there were already quite a number of people in line… 64 to be exact. It was a very hot day, which definitely helped to cut down on the crowds. My daughter joined us later on, after horseback riding, and she got there just in time to be one of the first 100 in line.

The local radio station was broadcasting and the corporate Wendy’s people were in a tent with promotional items. They kept us entertained with music, contests, and prizes. I won a bluetooth speaker! We got our official line numbers, which were in the 60s, stood and waited in a line that went all around the outside of the restaurant.

At the scheduled time, with much pomp and circumstance, the doors opened and the line started slowly moving. Everyone was desperate to get inside to the AC, but the servers brought around cups of lemonade to help us beat the heat in line. Once inside, we each had to make a purchase separately in order to get our “one-year-of-free-food” cards. We were also given a bunch of coupons and the free Junior Frosty keycards.

How does free food for a year work?

We had no idea what to expect. What exactly did free food for a year mean? At Wendy’s, it meant that you could get one free sandwich or salad every week for the next 52 weeks. The cards had a square for each week of the year, starting on Sundays. The promotion didn’t include the double or triple burgers and you had to make a purchase of something in order to get the deal — they weren’t just handing out free food without a purchase.

Over the past 52 weeks, I got to know the Wendy’s experience about as well as you can without being an employee. I was there once a week, only missing a few weeks out of the year when I was out of town. Here are my key takeaways…

The Food

The kids were at work or college most of the year, so Kip and I were the ones who benefited most from the free meals. We would go to Wendy’s weekly for lunch, normally on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Part of the promotion was that you had to go inside to the counter to use the free meal card.

During the first couple months, we explored the menu, trying all the salads and a few burgers here and there, and no contest: Wendy’s burgers are the best! I was in the midst of a low-carb diet, so I mostly stuck with the salads.

We would each have to pay separately and show our card at the time of ordering. We almost always purchased a large fountain drink (around $3.50) and would get the sandwich or salad for free. With the popular $5 Biggie Bag, we often noted that we were only spending $1.50 less than that cheap price to eat ‘for free.’

With the renovation, they installed the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, so we were happy to purchase the large-sized drinks and then get a refill to go. My go-to was Coke Zero with vanilla flavor, with a splash of regular Coke.

After a couple months, I zeroed in on the Cobb Salad and ordered it consistently for 10 months. Even after eating the Cobb Salad so many times, the thought of not having it this week makes me sad! That is by far the best fast food salad I’ve ever tried. At around an $8 cost, I saved more than $400 on that weekly salad!

The People

When you go to Wendy’s every single week, you get to know the staff. Interestingly, over the past year there was not a lot of turnover in the front-of-the-house workers and we got to know them quite well.

I’ll call our favorite cashier “Ripkin” because she loves the Orioles. We would try to come in for lunch a little before noon or a little later to avoid the rush. She knew I would always order the Cobb Salad and a large fountain drink. Sometimes I’d get a Junior Frosty, but not regularly.

If Ripkin was not at the counter, we knew things would be super slow and chaotic. She was always very friendly and professional and we looked forward to seeing her each week. When she wasn’t there, or if we skipped a week, we would always talk about why we were gone and what we’d been doing while we were away. If she was on break and eating her own lunch in the seating area, we would talk with her about her day.

We began to notice when the owner was there, observing everyone, or when they were short-handed at the drive-through window, which they always prioritized. We could measure the tension from the moment we opened the entrance door. However it looked or felt, we would always wait in line patiently because we were never in a rush.

The Customers

One of the biggest takeaways from our year of Wendy’s was that many customers were not respectful of the staff. Whenever we were there during a busy time, there was always at least one customer complaining about something trivial.

If you’re going to a fast food establishment right at lunch time, you have to level out your expectations. You say that you don’t have time to stand in line and pick up food? I’m looking at you people coming from the nearby courthouse. Just because you have a court case, doesn’t make you more important than everyone else in line!

Is there ever a reason to yell at a fast food worker? No. You’re only making yourself look like a jerk. I can’t count the number of times I wanted to confront a rowdy rude customer.

The Service

Going to Wendy’s for an entire year, there were good days and bad days, as far as the service goes. Obviously, when it wasn’t as busy, the service was much faster and accurate. During busy times, there was a wait for the food and sometimes you had to clarify your order with the staff. Nothing unexpected.

Many times, I outlined in my mind what I would do to improve their processes as I waited to get my food. Mostly, being more consistent about giving receipts and using order numbers or names to distribute the food to avoid mix-ups.

Initial thoughts on this Wendy’s, pre-renovation

This particular Wendy’s had a longtime reputation for very slow drive-through ordering. I rarely went inside to order and was always prepared for a lengthy wait in the drive through and didn’t even attempt to go there if I was short on time. It could only go up in my opinion, right?

How was it after the grand reopening?

After the grand reopening, they clearly prioritized the drive through service. Even if there was a long line in the store, the workers would still focus efforts on the drive through before giving a hand to the counter workers. Is that normal in fast food? I have no idea!

Where’s the Beef?

I have no beef about Wendy’s after eating there every week for an entire year! The food was excellent. I now have a much greater respect for fast food workers. It’s Wednesday night and I’m thinking that I want to go to Wendy’s tomorrow for lunch. Maybe I’ll try a $5 Biggie Bag.