The Wendy's Baconator first emerged on the fast food scene in 2007 to the delight of all meat-lovers. The untold truth of Wendy's Baconator is that its creation was an attempt to revive Wendy's in the wake of Dave Thomas's death. Now popular, the Baconator has a breakfast and Pringles version.
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00:00Who could forget where they were when they first learned of the Wendy's Baconator?
00:05Perhaps one of the most iconic fast food burgers ever, the Baconator helped put Wendy's back on
00:10the map. Let's dive into the untold truth of this bacon cheeseburger legend.
00:16The Baconator launched in 2007 as part of an effort to revive Wendy's following the
00:212002 death of its founder, Dave Thomas. Back then, the number three burger chain was hurting,
00:27and offers were on the table from rival companies.
00:30The franchise had suffered from lower sales for a few years after Thomas passed,
00:35and those who are old enough to remember might be able to understand why.
00:39His appearances in Wendy's commercials were always heartwarming and fun to watch.
00:44The company couldn't seem to match the marketing magic that was Dave Thomas
00:48until the brilliant and aptly named Baconator came around.
00:52Dave Thomas left a lasting legacy, of course. Former Wendy's head honcho,
00:57Carrie Anderson, told The New York Times in 2007,
01:00"...the legacy of Dave Thomas creates a powerful foundation for Wendy's,
01:04and allows my job to be easier."
01:07With that said, imagine how successful a Baconator ad would have been with Dave Thomas' endorsement.
01:13In 2007, when then-Wendy's CEO Carrie Anderson helped roll out the Baconator,
01:19she openly admitted that the meat-lover mega-sandwich was definitely designed to
01:23appeal to a particular demographic, 18- to 34-year-old males, which at the time
01:29were the most common fast food consumers.
01:32This salad is really good. You want a bite?
01:34No, no, thank you. I'm a meatarian."
01:36The Baconator vision came while Wendy's was trying to reinvigorate both its menu
01:40and its marketing. The efforts paid off, and the sandwich definitely boosted the brand's status.
01:46The following year, Anderson reported that Wendy's was developing a
01:50Go Wrap chicken sandwich for its snack and value menu, but this time in an effort to appeal to
01:55women. While this might seem like gender stereotyping in today's world, the numbers
02:00regarding men and fast food at the time apparently don't lie. Those wraps didn't
02:05stand the test of time, yet all these years later, the Baconator is still holding strong.
02:11So, do we have young, cheeseburger-loving bros to thank for the Baconator?
02:15Yes, it seems like we do.
02:18To say the Baconator took the fast food world by storm when it first launched
02:22would be a bit of an understatement. This bacon cheeseburger arrived in a full-on blaze of glory.
02:28Within two months, the company sold 25 million sandwiches to hungry meat-eaters.
02:33In the summer of 2007, a few months after Baconator Mania took hold,
02:38then-CEO Carrie Anderson told Business Wire,
02:41"...this is one of the most successful new product introductions we've had in some time."
02:47May I get you all a Baconator?
02:49Yes!
02:50Commercials from the fall of 2007 really highlighted the popularity of the Baconator.
02:55The biggest selling points were, well, the bacon,
02:59and the longstanding Wendy's promise of fresh, never-frozen beef.
03:03It furthered this message with famous ads like the Kicking Trees commercial,
03:07which was the most-watched TV advertisement of June 2007.
03:12In a way, it cross-promoted the Baconator by reiterating that anything involving
03:16beef from Wendy's was going to be fresh and tasty. The massive success of the Baconator
03:21in its early launch was no doubt a part of Wendy's revival both in sales and advertising.
03:28Look, not everyone can be the Baconator. We're looking at you,
03:31Spicy Baconator. May you rest in peace.
03:33In March of 2008, Wendy's tried to top its Baconator success story with another
03:39Baconator success story. The chain extended its brand with a spicier version of the cheeseburger.
03:45Long story short, it's not on the menu today. While the commercials were cute,
03:49for some reason, Americans just didn't take to the spicy version of this bacon-on-beef classic.
03:55NYC Food Guy, a New York-based food critic, certainly didn't give the burger a glowing
04:00review. He wrote,
04:01The jalapenos and chipotle ranch sauce soggied up the top bun while overpowering the entire
04:07burger with slightly spicy acidity. Needless to say, it didn't get the same warm welcome
04:14as the Baconator. Wendy's does serve a few variations of the bacon-jalapeno cheeseburger,
04:19though.
04:20In 2012, Wendy's tried to appeal to customers who really wanted a Baconator but couldn't bring
04:26themselves to justify consuming a half-pound of beef with six strips of bacon in one sitting.
04:32For those who wanted a little less pork and beef, the company launched a baby Baconator,
04:37dubbed the Son of Baconator. Cute, isn't it? The mini version of the Baconator made you feel
04:43a little less guilty. Instead of two quarter-pounders and six slices of bacon, this
04:47sandwich served up two patties that weighed 2.25 ounces each, with four slices of bacon.
04:54The Son of Baconator is alive and well, still on the menu today. But it only has four ounces
04:59of beef, as opposed to 4.5 total ounces. It also has 670 calories while its dad,
05:06the original Baconator, has 960.
05:09According to popular food blogger L.A. Foodie, Wendy's Baconator fries were the result of a
05:15culinary collaboration brought forth by a mutual love of bacon. The blogger reportedly received an
05:21invitation in August of 2015 to hang out with Top Chef star Spike Mendelsohn at a Southern
05:27California Wendy's location. Both food lovers got behind the grill at this new Wendy's outpost and
05:33decided to enhance several menu items with, you guessed it, more bacon. Mendelsohn supposedly
05:39upgraded the Baconator by whipping up a chili cheese version of the sandwich after he had
05:44already added some bacon to the chili. They then doused some fries with cheese and bacon and called
05:48it a day — a day forever known as the one where Baconator fries proudly entered the world.
05:54The fries were supposedly a limited-time-only item when they were first introduced back in 2015,
06:00yet they're still on the Wendy's menu, ready for consumption.
06:04When Burger King started selling The Bacon King in 2016, it felt like shade had officially been
06:10thrown at Wendy's. This cheeseburger was eerily similar — half a pound of beef,
06:15topped with lots of bacon, cheese, ketchup, and mayo.
06:19Kron writer Ken Hoffman compared the two and found that the only differences he could detect
06:24were a few more cheese slices on the Bacon King and the presence of sesame seeds on its bun.
06:29The Bacon King is still on Burger King's menu, but it's safe to say it comes nowhere near
06:34the Baconator's status as fast-food bacon cheeseburger royalty, despite the obvious similarities.
06:42The Baconator is a versatile sandwich. It's great for satiating any intense
06:46bacon cravings you might have, filling up your stomach on a long road trip,
06:50and, oh, stashing your weed when the cops come rolling through to search your car.
06:54Actually, scratch that last part. It turns out stuffing drugs in a burger
06:57isn't effective for avoiding a citation for drug possession.
07:01In 2016, police in Milton, West Virginia, got a call about a shady car milling about
07:06in a Wendy's parking lot. The car contained four individuals and some Wendy's grub.
07:11The canine units allegedly snuffed out some marijuana, which police reported was,
07:16quote, "...hiding in a Baconator."
07:19The suspect in question tried to claim that a Wendy's employee must have placed the pot in
07:24the sandwich, but as the Milton Police Department put it on their Facebook account,
07:28Wendy's.com shows that marijuana is not a standard ingredient for a Baconator.
07:34One would initially assume that there can't possibly be anything unhealthier than a Baconator,
07:40with its half-pound of beef topped with six slices of bacon and American cheese,
07:45plus mayo and ketchup, all held together by a white flour, quote,
07:49"...premium bun." However, there are actually at least seven contenders that beat out the
07:55Baconator for the title of unhealthiest bacon cheeseburger. According to Eat This, Not That,
08:00a brand dedicated to healthier eating, of those seven really unhealthy fast food burgers that top
08:05the Baconator in calorie and fat content, the biggest offender is the Triple Meat Whataburger,
08:11from Whataburger. It weighs in at 1,885 calories, 84 grams of fat, and 2,080 milligrams of sodium,
08:20while the Baconator, by comparison, has only 960 calories, 66 grams of fat, and 1,540 milligrams
08:29of sodium. Wendy's has a troubled history when it comes to breakfast. The chain initially tried
08:35to launch a morning menu in 1985, but pulled the plug after only nine months of slinging eggs.
08:41It attempted in earnest to serve breakfast again in 2007 and then again in 2012, but still couldn't
08:48quite gain Egg McMuffin-level traction. It's now quite clear what the problem was all along.
08:54There wasn't a Baconator breakfast option. Cut to September of 2019 when Wendy's once again
09:00announced plans to give breakfast another go. In February of 2020, the morning menu offerings
09:06started cropping up again at different locations. They included a Breakfast Baconator and a Frosty
09:12Chino, in perhaps another effort to capitalize on what they know already works. Wendy's president
09:18Kurt Cain described the contents of the Baconator breakfast sandwich as,
09:22"...a fresh cracked egg, signature sausage patty, and six strips of applewood-smoked
09:28bacon." Hey, just don't call it a comeback. Actually, in this case, you probably can.
09:34Nothing cements a menu item in the fast food hall of fame quite like an official Pringles flavor.
09:40In June of 2020, Wendy's and Pringles announced that they were partnering to make a bacon,
09:46cheese, and beef-flavored chip. Like many other establishments,
09:50Wendy's has created an app featuring incentives for using it,
09:53and one of those incentives incorporates the Pringles partnership. You can score a free
09:58Baconator, Son of Baconator, or Breakfast Baconator with any order on the app if you
10:03enter a code found under the lid of a Baconator Pringles can. You can find this flavor anywhere
10:08you normally purchase potato chips, except maybe on airplanes.