When research revealed that t/V Wendy's Single hamburger was not in the same league with the Burger King Whopper and the McDonald's McD.L.T., additional research was instrumental in making a change.


Nearly $250,000 and thousands of taste tests later, the world's third largest hamburger chain stepped out with another new hamburger. The result was "The Big Classic," similar to the Single but featuring a different bun, different packaging and a distinctive brand name.

Research directors

The taste tests were conducted under the direction of Michael Sapienza, vice president of marketing analysis and new products at Wendy's International, Dublin, Ohio, and by a nationally-known research supplier. The project took over six months to complete, beginning at the end of 1985 and ending in May, 1986. The objective was to find out which of several Wendy's hamburger prototypes would be most competitive with other "signature" fast-food sandwiches currently on the market. More than a dozen tests, involving 5,200 taste testers, made up the main portion of the study. Some of these tests were conducted internally at Wendy's corporate headquarters using Wendy's employees. In addition, three major taste tests involving fast-food consumers were conducted in locations throughout the U.S.

Six cities

The taste tests were conducted in six cities. They were: Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Toledo and Columbus. According to Sapienza, these cities were chosen on the basis of three criteria:

"First of all, we wanted a good geographical diversification of cities that had many Wendy's outlets. Secondly, we wanted cities where Wendy's was well-represented and where we had competitive presence. Thirdly, we had to conduct the tests in places where we could get reliable field services to control the quality of interviews."

Taste tests

The individuals involved in the study were primarily between the ages of 18-34. They were selected randomly by telephone and were chosen on the basis of two criteria. The first criterion was demographics. Wendy's wanted to recruit a representative sample within each market area. Secondly, all of the participants had to be frequent consumers of fast-food signature sandwiches.

Once selected, the participants were asked to taste and comment on the Wendy's prototypes and two other sandwiches, primarily the Whopper and the McD.L.T. The participants were unaware of which fast-food competitors were used in the unbranded study.

In addition to rating the competitors' sandwiches, the participants were asked to judge a variety of topping combinations on the Wendy's hamburger.

The first category tested was the bun. Wendy's Research and Development Department screened internal taste panels who sampled 100 different varieties of buns. The off-site participants tried three major types of buns which were selected from the original 100. The three included a sesame seed bun and hard and soft versions of the kaiser bun. Participants also evaluated 40 special sauces, three types of lettuce, two sizes of tomato slices and 500 names, including "The Hunk," "The Chief," "The X.L.," "The Hot 'n' Juicy" and "The Max."

The end product is a quarter-pound square beef patty, topped with iceberg lettuce, two tomato slices, raw onion rings, dill pickles, extra dabs of ketchup and mayonnaise on a corndusted, spiral-top kaiser bun. The sandwich is served in an almond-colored styrofoam box with a dome formed to resemble the bun's top. "The Big Classic" costs slightly more than Wendy's Single hamburger, which is still available on the menu.

No matter which burger a consumer chooses, one thing is guaranteed: the order of condiments on the sandwich. For big-time burger eaters, they want it that way.

"The research revealed that the order of condiments makes a tremendous difference to the consumer," says Paul Raab, manager of corporate communications at Wendy's International. "The order in which the condiments hit your taste buds will taste differently to you depending on how those condiments are arranged."

Raab said a second taste profile - mayonnaise, pickle, lettuce, tomato, onion and ketchup - was tested and also well-liked. The reason for sticking with the current combination, one which has been used since Wendy's was founded in 1969, was purely operational.

"For 17 years we have been teaching our employees the color code of white, red, green, white, red, green (mayonnaise, ketchup, pickle, onion, tomato, lettuce). If that combination is still well-liked by consumers today, it just doesn't make sense to change."