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The Wendy’s in Redwood City is no more, as one of hundreds of Wendy’s closures across the United States, slated for the first half of 2026.
The burger joint that’s lived at 1852 El Camino Real since 2004 shuttered early this week. The close is part of a company-wide mission called Project Fresh, to trim underperforming units, refocus investment on higher-traffic stores, improve the menu and increase franchise profitability, according to Wendy’s investor materials and earnings presentations.
“I will say that this is a really good location,” said Economic Development Manager Amanda Anthony. “We’ve seen interest from more popular, current fast food chains that want to move to Redwood City.”
The economic manager thinks Wendy’s drive-thru space will be bought up quickly by a franchise like Raising Cain’s or Dutch Bros. Coffee, maybe not quickly, but soon enough.
At least 5% of Wendy’s restaurants, which could be up to over 350 locations, will close down before July. In 2025, Wendy’s added 157 new restaurants, an increase of just over 2%, bringing the burger joint to just under 6,000 locations across the U.S., its biggest market.
Nonetheless, sales have plummeted more than 10% across both its American and global markets in the last quarter of 2025 for the 57-year-old burger franchise.
“Our fourth quarter performance was in line with our expectations, reflecting the challenges we anticipated,” said Ken Cook, Interim CEO, in a press release. “We’re executing Project Fresh with urgency to strengthen our foundation and position Wendy’s for long-term success.”
Wendy’s plans to refresh its menu and increase spending on digital, social, and streaming advertisements to respond to its weaker-than-expected fourth quarter, according to an earnings call last week.
The menu refresh will include a new cheesy bacon burger and chicken tender ranch wrap, and more “hamburger innovation” later this year, Cook told NBC. Other changes include faster drive-thrus via upgraded technology and self-service kiosks for easier ordering and payment.
Wendy’s has not released a complete list of its shutdown sites and has simply removed Redwood City from its locations listed online. Roughly 300 Wendy’s locations spanned California at the start of the year, but that number has already dwindled to 290. Industry analysts expect Wendy’s sites in California to be hit the hardest due to the state’s rising labor costs, including a law enacted in April 2024 that raised the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour.
While the economic development manager didn’t have updated staffing numbers from the Wendy’s on El Camino, she said a report years ago showed the store had 15 employees.
The Wendy’s on El Camino Real had 1.5 stars and 157 reviews on Yelp as of Friday.
