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9 Discontinued Wendy’s Menu Items That We Wish Were Coming Back

The square beef patties are here to stay—but, sadly, these limited-run Wendy’s menu items weren’t.
ByRudie Obias|
Rare Commercial Vault: Wendy's Hamburgers (1980 HD)
Rare Commercial Vault: Wendy's Hamburgers (1980 HD) | Dave's Archives

While all fast food chains have their flagship meals—like McDonald’s with the Big Mac or Burger King and the Whopper—sometimes menu items are introduced with the hopes of becoming a core part of the line-up, but then are discontinued, and often without any notice. Taco Bell, for instance, used to have a Volcano Taco; McDonald’s once offered the infamous Arch Deluxe as an option for hungry customers.

Fast food restaurants usually introduce new items to bring in new customers or entice old ones back in. These meals can even develop a cult-like following, with fans demanding chains bring back their favorites if they’re discontinued. Some, like Taco Bell, will actually do it for a limited time to satisfy fans and boost sales.

Wendy’s isn’t immune to this practice either. Over the company’s more than five decades in business, it has introduced and discontinued things over and over again, though you’ll always find core offerings, like the Frosty and Dave’s Single (named after Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas). Ahead, you’ll find our picks for the most memorable discontinued menu items that were once offered at Wendy’s. And who knows? Maybe they’ll bring back these favorites sometime soon.

  1. Gouda Bacon Cheeseburger
  2. Chicken Cordon Bleu
  3. Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty
  4. 4-Alarm Spicy Chicken Sandwich
  5. Wendy’s Boneless Wings
  6. Pretzel Pub Burger
  7. Fresh Stuffed Pitas
  8. Queso Bacon Trio
  9. The SuperBar

Gouda Bacon Cheeseburger

During the summer of 2015, Wendy’s launched the Gouda Bacon Cheeseburger, a more gourmet-style offering, to compete with the likes of Shake Shack, Five Guys, and Smashburger. It featured a quarter-pound beef hamburger patty, smoked gouda cheese, Swiss-Gruyère fondue, and applewood smoked bacon with a garlic aioli sauce served between two toasted brioche buns. The Gouda Bacon Cheeseburger was only available at select locations for a limited time (along with Bacon Fondue Fries). The brand removed it from the menu sometime during the winter of 2016.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

In 1991, Wendy’s introduced Chicken Cordon Bleu, which featured a breaded chicken breast topped with slices of smoky ham, gooey Swiss cheese, mayo, and Grey Poupon dijon mustard on a Kaiser roll.

According to a TV commercial at the time, Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas claimed he created the sandwich because his daughter, the restaurant’s namesake, wanted something new on the fast food chain’s menu. Despite its popularity, Wendy’s Chicken Cordon Bleu was discontinued in 1992. It’s believed that the sandwich was just too expensive to produce.

Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty

The Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty hit Wendy’s chains in 2009. The Frosty had a vanilla soft serve base mixed with coffee and toffee bits—similar to a Blizzard at Dairy Queen or the McFlurry. It was described as an after-meal caffeine pick-me-up. But, Wendy’s took the tasty treat off their menu a few years later in 2011.

4-Alarm Spicy Chicken Sandwich

The 4-Alarm Spicy Chicken Sandwich still remains a Wendy’s fan favorite nearly two decades later. Released in 2006, the deep-fried chicken breast sandwich was topped with pepper jack cheese, lettuce, jalapeño, and their very own 4-alarm chipotle sauce, all served on a ciabatta bun. This item unfortunately vanished from Wendy’s menus by 2008.

Wendy’s Boneless Wings

Wendy’s rolled out boneless wings in 2009 in three flavors: Honey BBQ, Bold Buffalo, and Sweet & Spicy Asian. You could get nine pieces for $3.99. It seemed to be popular ... until customers soon discovered that these boneless wings were merely Wendy’s Chicken Nuggets drenched in flavored sauce. The fast food chain soon stopped making the boneless wings.

That said, Wendy’s brought back the boneless wings 15 years later (sort of) with Spicy Nuggs. Spicy Nuggs, which fit chains in 2024, were basically the same thing as their 2009 predecessor but with different flavors, including Spicy Honey BBQ, Spicy Buffalo, and Spicy Ghost Pepper.  

Pretzel Pub Burger

Topped with Muenster cheese, Applewood smoked bacon, smoky honey mustard, warm beer cheese sauce, crispy fried onions, and pickles, the Pretzel Pub Burger was quite a meal. It was introduced to Wendy’s menus in 2013 and featured a quarter-pound burger patty served between two soft pretzel buns.

Though one of the most successful new menu items from the fast food chain, it was intended to have a limited-time run and got the axe a few years later. Wendy’s brought it back in 2022, but it was discontinued again by 2023.

Fresh Stuffed Pitas

A sandwich wrap trend hit fast food chains in the 1990s, and Wendy’s rose to the occasion. The brand introduced Fresh Stuffed Pitas in 1997, with three different types—Garden Ranch Chicken, Chicken Caesar, and Greek with Feta Cheese and Garden Veggies—to choose from.

Although the Fresh Stuffed Pitas had some fans, Wendy’s put this menu pick permanently on the shelf sometime circa 2000. More than 25 years later, folks are still taking to online petitions to urge Wendy’s to bring them back to their restaurants nationwide. (In the meantime, you can make your own right at home.)

Queso Bacon Trio

Wendy’s rolled out three new menu items in the summer of 2017. The queso-based offerings, dubbed the “Queso Bacon” trio, all featured bacon, too.  

The Queso Trio—including Bacon Queso Burger, Bacon Queso Chicken Sandwich, and Bacon Queso Fries—wasn’t slated for a long run on Wendy’s menus, and within just a few years, all three were gone. The brand has since dropped similar queso offerings, like the Loaded Nacho Cheeseburger, but those have gone the way of the dodo as well.

The SuperBar

During the late ’80s, Wendy’s rolled out The SuperBar, which was a series of self-serve buffet-style stations—including a pasta bar, a salad bar, and a “Mexican Fiesta” bar with dessert pudding and, at one point, even pizza.

The SuperBar offered an all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner experience that cost between $2.99 and $3.69 (about $9-$10 with inflation in 2025). It was a new way to let customers create their own meals at Wendy’s locations. But some things are just too good to last forever: Wendy’s put an end to The SuperBar during the mid-’90s due to high operational costs and too much food waste.

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