Meat Shortages Leave Wendys Diners Asking, Wheres the Beef? – Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- With meat shortages roiling the U.S., some Wendys Co. restaurants have taken burgers -- their hallmark item -- off the menu.

Customers have taken to Twitter to complain they couldnt order burgers from the restaurant, which touts its beef as fresh and never frozen in its marketing.

A check on Wendys app showed that only chicken items were available for takeout or delivery orders from at least some of its stores in California. The situation has prompted a number of customers to ask Wheres the beef? on social media, invoking a Wendys catch phrase from the 1980s that poked fun of the small burgers sold by other chains.

North Americas meat-supply chain has fallen apart as outbreaks shutter slaughterhouses, heightening the prospect that pork, beef and chicken may go missing from grocery shelves and restaurant menus. About a dozen slaughterhouses shut last month because of infections among employees jammed together on processing lines.

Wendys spent years establishing itself as the first major fast-food chain to offer fresh-never-frozen beef. Rivals such as McDonalds have followed suit. Its a shift that has left some companies more vulnerable to disruptions to Americans beef supply chain than ones that still rely on imports from Australia and other countries.

For Wendys, the shortages appear to have only affected some areas so far. Items such as the Baconator bacon cheeseburger, for example, were still available to order in Chicago.

Wendys didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Meat Shortages Leave Wendys Diners Asking, Wheres the Beef? - Yahoo Finance