A Very Large Small At Wendy’s
I stopped at a Wendy’s for lunch today. Hadn’t planned on it, but circumstances necessitated it. I don’t normally get combos if I’m eating at such a restaurant, but the chain has been touting their new fries so much, i figured–what the heck, I’ll get a combo.
Small, medium, or large? the order-taker asked me.
How big’s a small drink? I asked her.
20 oz, came the reply.
Say what?! How big’s a large?
40 oz.
Are you kidding me? They ought to rename the sizes extra large, mammoth, and ridiculously huge. And they ought to offer a small, medium, and large to go along with them. I don’t know about you, but I find 8 oz. of soda to be just right, 12 oz. to be slightly excessive, and 16 oz. to be too much. To just jump right into the deep end and label a 20 oz drink as ’small’ is mind-boggling, annoying, and just plain rude.
I don’t know if you’ve looked at a soda nutrition facts label lately, but the caloric and sugar information is given based on an 8 oz. portion. For the root beer I wound up getting today because it would have cost me more not to get it, 8 oz of soda is worth 110 calories and 30g of sugar. Doing the math, a 20 oz. ’small’ if fully consumed provides 275 calories and 75g of sugar; a 40 oz. ‘large’ is 550 calories and 150g of sugar.
Why is the average American fat and either diabetic or pre-diabetic? In part because they can save money by consuming more sugar and more empty calories.
I’m sure Wendy’s isn’t alone in trying to pass off 2.5 x the suggested serving size as being ’small,’ but I’d allege that every corporation that has policies in place that push such ridiculousness on the public is culpable for the related health problems that accompany them. I’d also allege that trying to advertise their way into being perceived as a healthful choice on the basis of offering fresh fruit on the menu is akin to taking one straw off the camel’s back and claiming to have lightened the load.
Deity-smitten, maternal-intercoursing, smug, nonsensical fast food corporations can stick their healthy images in their rectum so long as they participate in such undeniable and insulting foolishness. I’d go so far as to allege that they were born out of wedlock and deserve to dine on fecal matter and decease.
I’m just saying.
September 7th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
I noticed that this is tagged as a “restaurant review”. Aside from the size of the beverages, how was your food? Did the fries live up to their hype?
September 7th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Not that your rant doesn’t have its place, but when they say a small is 20oz, isn’t that the size of the vessel alone? They then fill it 2/3 with ice before adding beverage. So in fact, they’re lying to you to suggest that you’re receiving 20oz. of soda, although the end result is probably a level of consumption closer to what you’d prefer. Meanwhile other folks are writing (errr, tweeting?) rants about how much less soda they get because the restaurant rips them off with all the ice they put in the cup.
September 9th, 2011 at 9:41 am
Jeremy– if you recall, Wendy’s old fries were absolutely terrible. These I would rate as being pretty average, but that makes them worlds better than what the chain used to have.
Justin– that’s a potentially valid point… you seem to have deflated my righteous indignation. Have you considered becoming a congressional negotiator?
September 12th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
Oh goodness, no; I’d like to keep all the friends I have.
Also, I’d agree with your assessment of the new fries. The old ones were remarkably bad. I think the whole “sea salt” pitch was a bit of a screen though, as I think they changed up their whole french frying process because word came in from consumers that their old fries sucked (meanwhile, the rest of their menu was pretty decent, relative to the genre). They could have gone the Dominoes Pizza route, where they straight up admit “hey, we heard you think our product was awful, and we’re heeding you advice and making changes”, but instead went the Tulane University route- remember when they switched from Pepsi to Coke campus-wide, but claimed it was entirely their decision, and not the culmination of tons of student requests/complaints? Wendy’s wants to take credit for their fry upgrade, rather than acknowledge that their old product was lousy. Not to say it didn’t work- they say “NOW, with sea salt”, we say “HEY, maybe they won’t suck so much”, and curiosity draws us in.
In other, related news: http://popvssoda.com/countystats/total-county.html
September 25th, 2011 at 11:38 am
Welcome to american serving sizes. Reminds me when they spoke about the serving sizes at mcdonalds in the movie super size me. It’s no wonder our country has an obesity problem.