November 12, 2020 // Franchising.com // Toronto, ON - Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada announced the brand’s move into the growing ghost kitchen space through a partnership with REEF’s Neighborhood Kitchens in Toronto. This move is the first of several to come, as ghost kitchens are an important component of Wendy’s non-traditional growth strategy. As the brand explores new avenues and formats to reach customers, REEF’s proximity-based network of delivery-only Neighborhood Kitchens enables Wendy’s to test a new format in dense downtown areas and address the evolving needs of today’s urban Canadian consumers.
Wendy’s fans can have their favourites delivered wherever they are, simply by placing an order with a popular delivery provider. Menu items will include the brand’s made-to-order square hamburgers, using fresh, never frozen 100 per cent Canadian beef*, fries and the signature Frosty® dessert. Customers will also find favourites like Wendy’s chicken sandwiches topped with fresh Canadian greenhouse-grown lettuce.
“Building a brick and mortar restaurant in every neighbourhood across Toronto may not always be possible,” said Stephen Piacentini, Vice President, Global Restaurant Development and Recruiting at The Wendy’s Company. “By partnering with companies like REEF, we can bring Wendy’s into dense, urban areas without the overhead of operating a traditional restaurant space.”
With more than 100 Neighborhood Kitchens, representing several brands, across 20+ markets in North America, REEF empowers local restaurants and national brands to expand their delivery service operations. The company’s mission is to connect the world to your block by transforming its distributed real-estate network of more than 4,500 parking lots and garages into Neighborhood Hubs, leveraging the power of proximity to connect people and neighborhoods to locally curated goods, services, and experiences.
“By providing access to our distributed real estate network, REEF’s Neighborhood Kitchens enable restaurants to extend their delivery areas by providing proximity to their customers, while also reducing delivery times and giving them the ability to scale more quickly into new geographies,” said Carl Segal, REEF’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are thrilled to welcome Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada onto the REEF platform and look forward to bringing this beloved brand to more consumers in Toronto and across Canada.”
*Fresh beef available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska, and Canada.
SOURCE Wendy's and REEF