Wendy's closing 140 more restaurants as part of push to update its locations

WASHINGTON — Wendy’s plans to close 140 U.S. restaurants before the end of this year on top of the 100 it said it would close in May.

But in a conference call with investors Thursday, the company said those closures will be offset by new restaurant openings. Wendy’s said it plans to open between 250 and 300 restaurants this year.

Wendy’s President and CEO Kirk Tanner said the restaurants that are closing are underperforming compared to others.

“They’re just in locations that don’t build our brands,” Tanner said. “You look at a brand that’s 55 years old and some of those restaurants are quite out of date.”

Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s didn’t provide a list of the locations to be closed. But Tanner said they are spread out all over the country.

“Our focus is on building new restaurants because we know they deliver well over the average of these poor-performing restaurants,” he said. “We, overall, want the best restaurants for the customers and that customer experience we want to deliver.”

Wendy’s had 7,292 restaurants at the end of the third quarter. More than 80% of them are in the U.S.

Wendy's shares rose 3.5% in midday trading Friday.

U.S. restaurant sales have seen little growth this year as many consumers pushed back against rising menu prices. Wendy’s same-store sales – or sales at locations open at least a year – were up less than 1% in the U.S. in the first half of this year.