Bringing home the Baconator is not as easy as it used to be, and it’s about to get even harder in cities around the country.
Fast food giant Wendy’s is continuing its push to close hundreds of locations as it seeks to stabilize profits and shed underperforming restaurants.
Nearly six months after the burger chain first announced the plan on an investor call, its U.S. footprint is decidedly smaller, with multiple states seeing net store declines in the double digits, according to a review of Wendy’s store locator tool.
As of Friday, the tool showed 5,675 locations in the United States. That’s roughly 200 fewer locations than what it showed at the end of September 2025, an archived capture of the tool reveals.
The Wendy’s Company, which disclosed its turnaround plan in November 2025, said the closures would begin in the fourth quarter of that year. The archived capture showed 5,875 U.S. locations when that quarter began.
These numbers are not official store counts, but rather based on what Wendy’s lists publicly on its U.S. website. The store counts that Wendy’s reports in financial filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) tend to be slightly different.
For example, the company reported 5,979 U.S. restaurants as of September 27 of last year, dozens more than what appeared on the locator tool at that time. It’s unclear what accounts for the discrepancy. Wendy’s did not respond to requests for comment.
Still, the store locator tool offers a window into the chain’s overall store footprint and how it changes over time. The tool is frequently updated; for instance, one location in North Haven, Connecticut, that was reported closed just this week has already disappeared from the tool.
It’s also a good gauge of which areas of the country are being most affected by Wendy’s closures. As of this week, the following states have seen the biggest net declines in restaurants since the fourth quarter of last year:
- Florida: 475 locations (net loss of 24)
- Texas: 431 locations (net loss of 23)
- Illinois: 175 locations (net loss of 18)
- Arizona: 90 locations (net loss of 15)
- Colorado: 115 locations (net loss of 10)
- Ohio: 388 locations (net loss of 10)
- New Mexico: 33 locations (net loss of 8)
Local media reports and review platforms such as Yelp confirm that the states above have seen a number of Wendy’s closures in recent months.
Last week, the Florida Times-Union reported that a sign was being removed from a Wendy’s restaurant located in the Arlington neighborhood of Jacksonville. It reported that “several” locations have closed in the area.
Also last week, mySA, a news website for residents in San Antonio, Texas, revealed that five Wendy’s locations have closed in that region.
It’s not clear if these specific closures are directly related to the turnaround plan or whether the locations have closed for another reason.
Why is Wendy’s closing?
There’s no getting around that Wendy’s has been in a slump. Revenue slipped 3.1% last year to $2.18 billion, and net income fell 15.1% to $165.1 million.
While Wendy’s remains the second-largest fast food hamburger chain in the country, and the third-largest globally, it faces the same headwinds that have been impacting the quick-service restaurant (QSR) segment for a while, including higher operating costs, increasingly price-sensitive consumers, and more competition from newer chains.
Shares of The Wendy’s Company (Nasdaq: WEN) have fallen dramatically over the last year, down roughly 44%, compared to a decline of about 8% for rival McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD).
How many more Wendy’s will be closed?
Reports in February suggested that Wendy’s could close about 300 locations as part of its turnaround plan, but it has not released an official number. Fast Company asked Wendy’s for more details and will update this story if we hear back.
The Wendy’s Company is expected to report its next earnings on Friday, May 8 before the opening bell. Investors will no doubt be eagerly awaiting an update on store closures—the fate of Frostys in countless cities hang in the balance.
This story is developing…
