Wendy's Is Coming For McDonald's With Its New Wraps

McDonald's regulars might be more excited for Wendy's' new menu item than fans of the chain itself. Announced Thursday, March 23, a grilled chicken ranch wrap — similar to the former McDonald's snack wraps — is hitting the menu on March 28 (via CNN). The tortilla wrap, which will cost $6.29, will be decked out with grilled chicken, cheddar cheese, ranch sauce, and romaine lettuce.

McDonald's rid its menu completely of snack wraps around the start of the Covid-19 pandemic for reasons related to time. Per Investopedia, the wraps took significantly more effort to assemble than the burgers the brand is known for. While a burger can be put together in a mere 10 seconds, it took double that to steam the tortilla, and even more time to load it with the necessary ingredients. "It's not simply the menu simplification, it's what else can we take off the workload of our teams in the restaurants to enable them to focus on what really matters, which is taking care of customers," CEO Steven Easterbrook explained of the decision (via Investopedia). If you didn't catch it before, though, there's been a slight change to the new Wendy's wrap offering.

Those used to McDonald's snack wraps should note a slight change in the new offering. Wendy's global chief marketing officer Carl Loredo says the brand's replacement snack wrap will swap crispy chicken for grilled chicken. "[Fans are looking for] lighter and more portable menu items," he said, calling the original snack wraps "McBland" (per CNN).

For die-hard snack wrap connoisseurs, this difference will probably be back of mind. In an effort to coerce the burger chain to add the wraps back to the menu, fans on social media have went as far as creating entire accounts dedicated to the beloved former product. One Twitter account has amassed more than 1,000 followers and constantly retweeted other Twitter users' desires for the food's return. If you think those are rookie numbers, you should also note a similar Change.org petition with more than 17,000 supporters as of time of writing. "Covid-19 has taken away a lot of things we love due to social distancing, but WHY take our Snack Wraps?" the description began. Maybe, just maybe, the grilled chicken wrap from Wendy's will be enough to soothe these dedicated fans.