Posted on 06/11/2006 12:55:28 PM PDT by billorites
Wendy's International Inc. (NYSE:WEN - news), the No. 3 U.S. hamburger chain, on Friday said it would remove the term "Biggie" from its french fries and drinks, switching to the well known terms small, medium and large.
However, the new designations may confuse some diners who are used to such sizing at other restaurants.
At rival McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD - news), the largest burger chain, a 32 ounce soft drink is designated a large. At Wendy's, a 32 ounce drink will now be called medium, instead of Biggie.
Wendy's is also adding a 42-ounce soft drink -- the equivalent of 3-1/2 cans of soda -- as its large. The large drink will come in a more durable, portable plastic cup that fits in a car cup holder for diners on-the-go.
"We felt like the Biggie designation is not what most customers were used to. Most people were used to small, medium and large," a spokesman said.
Wendy's had used the term Biggie since the early 1990s.
Previously, Wendy's sold a 16 ounce soft drink as a small, a 20 ounce soft drink as medium and a 32 ounce soft drink as Biggie. Now, a 20 ounce drink is a small, a 32 ounce drink is a medium and the new 42 ounce drink is a large. The company will still sell a 16 ounce drink on its 99 cent value menu.
At McDonald's, a 16 ounce drink is called a small, a 21 ounce drink is a medium and a 32 ounce drink is a large.
McDonald's famously removed the "Super Size" option from its combo meals after the 2004 release of the film "Super Size Me" -- a documentary in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald's fare for a month and tracked his increasingly poor health.
Kids' sized drinks at both chains are 12 ounces.
Under Wendy's new program, the sizes of its combo meals will be small, medium and large. A medium combo will cost 49 cents more than a small, and a large combo will cost 89 cents more than a small.
Customers can still substitute a bottle of Dasani water for a soft drink, and items such as a side salad, chili or yogurt and granola for french fries, regardless of the combo size.
Wendy's has four different sizes of french fries, ranging from the 3.2 ounce kids' size to a 6.7 ounce large size. At McDonald's, a small fries is 2.6 ounces, medium is 4 ounces and large is 6 ounces.
The new sizing terminology, which Wendy's is promoting in stores, comes just a day after the chain said it would virtually eliminate artery-clogging trans fats in its fries and breaded chicken items.
Wendy's restaurants in the United States and Canada will switch to a new blend of corn and soy oil for french fries and breaded chicken items starting in August. The move will reduce trans fats in fries to just zero to 0.5 grams, depending on serving sizes, while all of the breaded chicken will have zero grams of trans fats.
You should not be surprised. You should have expected him to say that. These odd stories in the news about freaks and their lawyers suing over food are not the norm and they don't represent the mindset of the regular person.
You gotta be careful, man. There are some very thick skulls out there.
Well, it's hard (okay, next to impossible) to argue that long-term sugar consumption has no linkage with diabetes when your beta cells release insulin in response to sugar and your receptors become desensitized to insulin in the periphery. Exercise does help, of course.
That said, even following your line of reasoning, the odds of becoming morbidly obese increase 1.6 times for each can of sugar-conaining soda a child consumes in a day.
I do. Why?
I work out four times a week, cardio on two other days, and eat Wendy's about twice a week. I usally have a double with cheese and a 'biggie' fry, sometimes with a Coke, sometimes with a Diet Coke. Guess what? I'm not overweight (6'1", around 240 lbs) and don't have type II diabetes. It's called personal responsibility....
True.
Actually if you calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI) you are at the low end of the "obesity" range
All kidding aside, but you're right! I hadn't eaten at a Wendy's in a long while, so dropped in for lunch one day not too long ago. Yuck! The burgers had gone from juicy/greasy to square blocks of ground up wallpaper.
The cheese slice was slapped on right before the burger was wrapped, so that by the time I got to the table it was un-melted...heck, cheese wasn't even warm! I brought it back up to the counter. ;op
"We're not allowed to melt it on the burger anymore," explained the stump-shaped chick behind the register.
When I started gaining weight due to my estrogen/metabolism kicking out, because of the Diabetes onslaught, that was out of my control, and a mystery to my doctors, my mom and myself!
Good for you. Glad you had a great start in life! I did too at once!
Must be easy to sit back and ridicule, did you ever have a rough start at anythng in life!?
Until you been in all the shoes of people across the world, with a different life than yours, don't ridicule, mock, or even compare!
You know, this dumping the biggie stuff drives me nuts. Now we have to spend more money for the same amount of food for the family. We used to get one big order of something and share it. Saved lots of money.
That graphic ROCKS.
Hey - I want my extra-DOUBLE LARGE Bucket-o-chicken pizza!
Some people still have to watch sugar intake as diabetes to save their lives daily. Not all obesity is due to just the pancreas breaking down. For some it's hormones, thyroids, and weak adrenaline glands!
WHEN YOU"RE BODY stops producing enzymes, and metabolisms due to the break down of these systems, you can't lose weight.
I was in a fitness club three years straight out of highschool... I worked out three times a week and swam five times a week, and walked everywhere to get places.
And for the three years i was there,, instead of burning fat, all I did was tone what muscle I did have. Lost a whole 30 lbs, and only bout 12" from top to bottom.
And at that time still didn't know I was diabetic. Didn't know bout my weak adrenal glands, or that my estrogen was out of balance.
Wanna hear another side affect to my diabetes onslaught, I entered the hospital last spring, cause I was anemic, loosing sooo much blood due to my reproductive systems disorder! Because of the diabetes!
You need to be a lil more informed than you are to speak out like you do.
Diabetes is as bad as cancer in it's own time!
It brings on strokes in thin people, loss of eyesight in middle age people, and for you men, I hate to tell you what it can do to Your reproductive glands!!!!
With an estimated BMI of 31.7, That would place you well within the obese category unless you are a world class body builder. Even if we assumed that you were very athletic with a well above average muscle to fat ratio, you'd still easily fit into the overweight category.
Lest you think I'm slamming you, my own BMI is just over 26, so I'm hardly thin. I'm in reasonably good shape having just ridden a metric century (62 miles) in 3.5 hours, with a resting heart heart rate in the high 50's, but I'm still packing on way too many pounds.
Sadly, and your post exemplifies this, we've lost all perspective in this country. We don't know what being in shape is supposed to look like anymore.
And how many calories are in a diet coke? Or when I order my iced tea? Hell, go to Quik Trip every morning, and load up a 54oz iced tea (about 15 calories, because I use 3 packets of splenda). Should that be banned?
I happen to like getting a really large drink, one that will last me nearly the entire day.
Mark
I am lucky that my family has become informed as to how and why obesity can come about.
Others are not. So instead of being a foot in someones "A$$", Why not be a compassionate soul, and be considerately educated and helpful to your loved ones and friends that are obese!
The disease isn't obesity, the disease is NOT KNOWING!
Be positive or be gone with you!
Oh, and Melas is right, my uncle is always running races, bicycling, and has all his life, and he even has health issues, and a BMI that's high for his activity level.
There are a lot of people who make fun of Richard Simmons, but I've always felt that he's one of the "good guys," and he's ALWAYS been all about personal freedoms and responsibilities. He's someone who's never judgemental towards people who are tremendously overweight, but very supportive towards their getting to a better lifestyle.
He's inspirational, although quite corny, but he's a good guy, and he's really helped a lot of people, because he really does care about them.
Mark
And sometimes, that's just simple ignorance, cause one doesn't come across the information. Or because of their social/reading lifestyle, they don't know it's out there to learn about.
Hardees (and Carl's Jr) did that with their "Monster Burger" a while back... 2 x 1/3 pound "thickburgers," 4 slices of bacon, 3 slices of cheese, and mayo! I think that the healthiest thing on the burger are the sesame seeds on the bun! According to MSNBC, it's got 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat!
Mark
I was kinda thinking the same thing about Simmons.
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