We Finally Know Why The Wendy's Sunrooms Vanished
These days, many fast-food restaurants look pretty similar. Think about it – all the fun details that used to make each chain different are long gone. The McDonald's play places vanished, Taco Bell got rid of its vibrant colors in favor of a more minimalistic logo, and Wendy's even did away with its iconic sunrooms. Devastating, we know.
While many of these changes have to do with modernizing and competing with other fast food chains, the case of Wendy's sunrooms is actually a little different. Back in the 1980s, as explained by a New York Times article, the style to emulate was "wood fronts, lots of glass... the feeling of eating on a country porch." Great for when that was "in style," but not so great once trends changed, and definitely not if your particular sunroom-possessing Wendy's happened to be located in a hot climate or a cold climate. Yup, climate might've been the straw that broke the fast food sunroom's back.
Wendy's sunrooms were too expensive to keep comfortable
As is usually the case in the world of business, the decision of whether or not to keep Wendy's sunrooms came down to money. Architect Ray Caliendo explained to MEL Magazine that these airy rooms, illuminated with natural lighting, were simply "inefficient" in terms of energy.
Reddit users agreed that the sunrooms could be uncomfortable at times, with one person noting, "At our local Wendy's with this, on sunny days you basically melt." Another person said they have a sunroom attached to their house, and "that room is 35 degrees in the winter and 95 in the summer." Miserable, either way.
At the end of the day, fast food sunrooms were replaced partially because they went out of style, but mainly because they're just so expensive to maintain. Who wants to pay a gigantic heating bill in the winter and a massive air conditioning bill in the summer? Not Wendy's. Better to invest in perfecting its delivery process.