Reddit Is In Total Disarray Over Wendy's Chicken

A bad economic climate impacts everything. According to MoneyWise, during times of economic hardship such as recession, there are fewer jobs, stocks start to nosedive even as inflation skyrockets, and interest rates start shifting around a lot. These are just a few of the global signs that the economy is hurting. There are many indicators that hit closer to home. One of these is a phenomenon known as "shrinkflation." Investopedia explains shrinkflation as an occurrence where businesses start shrinking the size of their products, even though the price tag stays the same. It is a strategic way to cut raw material or production costs and increase profit.

An example of shrinkflation is a move English chocolatier Toblerone made in 2016. Though the cost of their candy remained the same, the actual chocolate inside became noticeably diminished. "To ensure Toblerone remains on-shelf, is affordable and retains the triangular shape, we have had to reduce the weight," the company said via Facebook. Where Toblerone candies were previously made to look like a series of tiny chocolate peaks, suddenly huge gaps began appearing between the peaks. So, less chocolate for the exact same cost.

With the current economic atmosphere being one of chaos and uncertainty, many brands are using shrinkflation to stay afloat. Social media users think that Wendy's seems to be doing it and they are furious.

Wendy's tends to be relatively well respected among fast food choices. When ranking the best fast food hamburgers, Wendy's isn't at the top of the list but is still making a showing over names like McDonald's and Burger King. When it came to ranking chicken sandwiches, Wendy's again found its way to the middle of the pack, but it was only defeated by franchises like Raising Kane's, Chick-fil-A, and Popeye's. Each of those specializes in fried chicken, proving that Wendy's knows almost as much about a good chicken sandwich as restaurants that do almost nothing else.

It seems Wendy's also knows a thing or two about shrinkflation because one Reddit post shows a vaunted and respected Classic Chicken Sandwich that seems to have undergone a quick hit from a shrink ray. The meat was tiny. "Basically got a chicken finger," said the original poster, who seemed frustrated and betrayed by Wendy's.

While this may be a case of shrinkflation, a few commenters offered hope. They said that sometimes the restaurants merely get classic chicken meat that is "kinda pathetic," in the words of one. Another, who seems to work at Wendy's, explained, "whenever i get these i either throw it in with a normal size one on a sandwich or throw it away." Thus, this poster's plight of a squashed chicken might be an anomaly, not a new shrinkflation policy on Wendy's part.