On November 11, American fast food chain Wendy’s announced the launch of its new and improved french fries. The new carton of fries offers a “natural-cut” that displays the potato skin and is seasoned with sea salt.
This fry facelift is part of an initiative to address the modern consumer’s interest in nutritional content and food’s source of origin that falls in line with Wendy’s trademark phrase, “Quality is our Recipe.”
This may all be old news to some Austinites because when it came time to field test the new fries the ginger princess of fast food decried they be sent to capitol of Texas. And why not? Austin is smack in the middle of an archetypal meat-and-taters kind of culture, so if these new-fangled peace potatoes can last here they’re bound to catch on.
Unfortunately for Wendy’s, they may fall victim to an unforeseen backlash. While the new fries will probably fare well with mainstream consumers—most will hardly notice the change—there are cells of hardcore fast food junkies. They need those golden morsels fried in hydrogenated oils, oozing with trans fat and guilt. The release of a healthier french fry will just drive these addicts to the seedy underbelly of the fast food industry in search of a new fix.
Wendy’s needs to tackle this problem head-on and launch companion facilities for all its restaurant locations. Facilities that offer refuge to the fast food junkies that society is leaving behind. Facilities that provide equally unhealthy food counterparts to wean these poor souls off the high-fructose corn syrup and processed meats their bodies have become dependent upon.
On second thought, they could just build next to Taco Bell.
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