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I wouldn’t pass up Wendy’s for this. Here’s what a former employee had to say about it:

“They absolutely do use the unsold burgers as chili meat.

“Because they make burgers to order, the patties sit on the grill, waiting for a customer to order a hamburger, and then they custom make it.

“But it can only sit on the grill for a certain number of minutes after it’s cooked (and I don’t remember how many) so if they don’t sell, they remove them from the grill and toss them in a container underneath the grill and those are ground up and used for the chili.

“I did not cook at Wendy’s, I just took orders, so I only know this from observation and wasn’t ever really told the exact rules. But this is what they did. I don’t know how long they sit under the grill before they are taken away or at what temperature they are stored. I would imagine they follow food safety guidelines. And really, as long as they do, it’s not all that bad of an idea - otherwise they’d either be throwing away a lot of meat, or, you’d have to wait for them to cook the burger all the way from raw every time you ordered one (except during peak rush hours) and that takes a lot longer than what people expect from fast food.

“Now as to if they just keep reusing the chili and adding more to it, that, I don’t know. I kind of doubt it because that is just ptomaine asking to happen. But I don’t know for sure. Carter was still in office at the time I worked there so I don’t remember every thing, but some stuff is crystal clear.”

(Another employee - who did cook there - said that they would put the patties in the freezer once the time was up under the lights, then cook the hamburgers again, right before making a fresh batch of chilli.)

And, honestly, that’s pretty close to how I make my chili. I pre-cook the hamburger in large batches and freeze it. Then I thaw out and cook up a portion when I’m ready to make the chili. It sounds gross, but it’s food.