Wendy's Over-The-Top Salad Bar You Probably Forgot Existed
In the same vein of TV shows and electronics today, fast-food places will do anything to keep up with the ever-changing demands and desires of the evolving consumer market. While some places are content to keep things simple like Chick-fil-A or In-N-Out, other companies are willing to do whatever they can to be the most up-to-date and most desirable place to grab a hamburger. While a dose or two of innovation is always welcome, it seems that those in marketing may sometimes bite off more than they can chew, and their apparently genius innovations reek not only of grease, but of desperation as well.
Of course, in the name of profit, risk be darned and companies boldly (or, depending on one's point of view, blindly) throw caution to the wind and hope for the best. From wild successes such as the classic value meal and it's many spin-offs to devastating failures like the infamous Rax's Roast Beef, whose bizarre and desperate marketing attempts led to a near-total downfall. But what if, perhaps, there was something that was actually too successful? A fast-food Icarus that flew too close to the heat lamps despite the incredible success? While it may be a forgotten relic of the past, Wendy's used to have a salad bar that, in design, was to beat the band — and it certainly did, though at a far messier and over-the-top cost. This is the story of Superbar.
Wendy's Superbar was a successful failure
Spaghetti? Pizza? Pudding? At Wendy's? These food staples would seem out of place in a normal hamburger restaurant but were a staple of Wendy's Superbar. Introduced in the late 1980s, Wendy's all-you-can-eat mega bar broke away from the norms of side salads and delved into the world of pasta, Mexican, and dessert: all for the low, low price of $2.99. In the warm glow of that nostalgic '90s sun-room style dining room, eager customers would enjoy anything from chili and tacos to fruit ambrosia with a Double Bacon Cheeseburger An open-and-shut success story, right?
Just as the old saying goes: "Too much of a good thing is a bad thing" — and that certainly held true for the Superbar. As The Daily Meal reported, it wasn't an easy task to keep the Superbar clean and well-stocked, as throngs of customers and perishable items left out in the open mixing would make quite a mess to clean, especially during lunch rushes. There was also the concern of people sneaking more refills than they were allowed, some taking the "all-you-can-eat" a bit too far. Indeed, Superbar was a victim of its own success. It was too complicated to be run at a standard Wendy's, and in 1998, the Superbar disappeared.
There is, however, a following on Facebook of people who hold fond memories of the Superbar, and wish one day, we can eat spaghetti and Frosty's once again.