The Reason Americans Are Jealous Of Wendy's Japan
What do you go to Wendy's for? The Frostys? "You poor, deprived soul" ... would say anybody and everybody that's ever been inside a Wendy's in Japan. KitKat fans may know that Japan does KitKats better than any other country in the world. (There, The New York Times says, KitKats "maintain a singular, cultlike status," and you can pick between 40 different flavors in a given year, including sake, wasabi, and matcha.) But Wendy's fans were shocked earlier this week when a TikTok account gave its viewers a virtual tour of a Japan-based Wendy's (called "Wendy's First Kitchen").
The TikTok account, @sugoimart, which is dedicated to showing off "cool sh** in Japan," was unquestionably smug about the menu offerings at their local Wendy's. Think suspiciously gourmet-sounding dishes like seasoned Hakata cod roe spaghetti, burnt butter soy sauce flavored french fries, bacon mushroom melt burgers, jewel tapioca royal milk teas with brown sugar, and mini pancakes and soft serve with sweet potatoes (via Wendy's First Kitchen). Need we go on?
Americans react to Wendy's Japan
@Sugoimart's virtual tour of their local Wendy's has racked up over 270,000 views at the time of this writing. It's easy to imagine that many were brought close to tears by what they saw. "Omg I need to go to Japan right noooowww!!" wrote one anxious viewer. "I would LIVE in that Wendy's," raved another. "Puts Wendy's here to shame," lamented a third. Another group of @sugoimart's viewers, however, had tried Wendy's in Japan and chimed in with their menu recommendations. "The burnt soy potato is so good," suggested one. "I tried the bubble tea at Wendy's First Kitchen, totally recommend it," wrote another. "[The] cheese mushroom burger is the best," concluded a third.
At least part of the reason that Wendy's First Kitchen seems, as one sorry viewer put it, "10 times better" than in the United States, is because the company has dedicated itself to bringing the best of Wendy's menu offerings, worldwide, to the country. Wendy's First Kitchen's World Wendy's initiative is responsible, for example, for the presence of the Bacon Mushroom Melt Burger on Wendy's Japanese menu. The hit menu item originally debuted in Wendy's Canada (via Japan Today).