The fast-food wars are always raging as top quick-service restaurants, or QSRs, face off against each other to win over hungry customers. Still, a clear winner—Chick-fil-A—and a loser—Wendy’s —are emerging this year amid growing concerns stemming from rebounding inflation and unemployment.
Cash-strapped consumers are increasingly skipping drive-thrus for food at home as restaurants across the QSR industry bump up prices to offset tariffs and higher pay.
As a result, foot traffic at many fast-food players is stagnating, or worse, collapsing, forcing companies to get creative with value deals and promotions to win people back. McDonald’s, for example, has revamped its value menu and reintroduced its $2.99 Snack Wraps in an effort to boost its sluggish sales.
Chick-fil-A statistics
- Year Founded: 1967 (Atlanta, Georgia).
- Locations (nationwide): 3,354
- Employees: >200,000
- System-wide sales (2024): $22.7 billion, up 5.4% year over year.
One exception to the widespread dip in fast-food demand, however, is Chick-fil-A. The fast-growing national chicken chain boasts a fiercely loyal following, and despite economic headwinds, new store openings still spark enough interest to form lines around the corner.
Chick-fil-A’s success stands in sharp contrast to that of Wendy’s, America’s third-largest burger chain. While visits to Chick-fil-A are growing three times faster than the industry, Wendy’s traffic has tumbled as consumers become more selective with their spending.
Fast food slumps as the haves and have-nots gap widens
Soaring home and stock prices are helping wealthier, higher-income consumers continue spending, but those gains only matter if you’re a homeowner or shareholder.
About 65% of Americans are homeowners, the lowest level since before Covid, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, and only about 21% of people own individual stocks, according to the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances.
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- 30-year-old pizza chain closes all restaurants except one
- Texas Roadhouse rival shuts down several restaurant locations
The wealthiest 10% of Americans hold approximately 87% of all stocks and about 67% to 68% of the total national wealth. Bully for them — but tough news for those carving out a living day-to-day, especially as inflation rebounds and unemployment rises, crimping budgets to levels that are impacting millions of Americans’ ability to eat out, even fast food.
Unemployment reached 4.3% in August (the last month available because of the government shutdown), up from 3.4% in 2002, and the highest since 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Meanwhile, Consumer Price Index inflation has risen to 3% in September from 2.3% in April, before most tariffs took effect, pressuring corporate profits and leading to higher prices on menu items across the industry.
Wendy’s statistics
- Year Founded: 1969 (Columbus, Ohio).
- Locations (nationwide): 7,334
- Employees: ~225,000
- System-wide sales (2024): $14.5 billion, up 3.1% year over year.
Chick-fil-A and Wendy’s source much of what they sell domestically, but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to tariffs or that they don’t bear the brunt of pain as higher prices at other retailers, including auto parts stores like AutoZone and even Walmart, crimp discretionary spending for their customers.
Chick-fil-A sets the standard as Wendy’s foot traffic stalls
Consumers are becoming more cautious with their hard-earned money, but so far, they seem unwilling to skip out on stopping by Chick-fil-A.
Food away from home inflation by year
- 2024: 4.1%
- 2023: 5.8%
- 2022: 7.7%
- 2021: 3.9%
- 2020: 3.4%
- Source: USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) using BLS CPI data.
The company’s foot traffic increased by 3.2% in September, while industry-wide traffic to rivals slumped 3.2% and overall restaurant traffic decreased by 2.7%, according to Placer.ai.
The September strength means that while other fast-food rivals saw significant third-quarter dips, Chick-fil-A visits were mostly unchanged —a stark contrast to Wendy’s, which has been particularly hard hit by shifting consumer spending.
Wendy’s September traffic was among the worst of the big fast food chains, dropping 10.2% nationwide. For perspective, Wendy’s chief competitor, McDonald’s, saw a 4.4% decline in September.
During the third quarter, Placer.ai reported customer visits to Wendy’s locations open at least one year were down 6.3% from the same period in 2024. In Q2, the decline was a concerning, but more modest 2.7%.
Wendy’s total store visits by month:
- September 2025: -10.2%
- August 2025: -4.5%
- July 2025: -5.1%
- June 2025: -1.1%
Source: Placer.ai.
It’s unlikely to get any easier for Wendy’s, given ongoing economic worries and tough year-over-year comparisons.
The weakness follows an already tough second quarter that led Wendy’s CEO Ken Cook to lower its outlook for the rest of 2025 during its earnings call with investors in August:
“Our U.S. top line results and rest of year outlook are below the expectations we set at the beginning of the year, as the consumer and competitive environment looks much different today than we anticipated, said Cook. “We now anticipate full-year global systemwide sales to decline between 3% and 5%.”
It wouldn’t be surprising if Wendy’s offers a more downbeat assessment when it reports its third-quarter results on November 7, even as the privately-owned Chick-fil-A continues to win wallet share.
Related: Chipotle sees concerning customer trend
