Wendy's Heats Up While McDonald's Chickens Out

Wendy's announced that it will add to its successful spicy chicken sandwich line by test marketing a 4-alarm chicken spice sandwich. Although McDonald's announced in May that their new Hot 'n' Spicy McChicken sandwich was responsible for driving comparable sales up, in July they've gone the opposite direction as Wendy's by announcing the discontinuance of its spicy chicken.

We have defended our Spicy Chicken successfully against competitive intrusion -- most recently by McDonald's earlier this year," Ian Rowden, Wendy's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement on Wednesday. (Reuters)

AP reports that spicy chicken sales were disappointing for McDonald's, despite the May announcement. Some assess that the move is to make room for new products with even more promise.

"My read on the McDonald's announcement is they were more or less clearing the deck for the new chicken wrap snacker item," Bob Goldin, executive vice president of market research firm Technomics Inc. said, referring to an item that the chain is rolling out. "They have an awful lot of chicken already."

Wendy's executives may gloat but one cannot fault McDonald's for trying and failing. Motley Fool adds this insight.

Experimenting is part of the process. For every Big Mac, McDonald's will suffer through its share of McLean Deluxe and McRib attempts to win over the mainstream gut, but it doesn't have to win them all. Failure has the bright side of opening up the window for another new item. It's what keeps the innovative spirit in retail dining fresh. It's what keeps the golden arches turning.