© 2023 Quality Is Our Recipe, LLC

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

14 Food

Food progress highlights Responsible sourcing Food safety

Food quality and innovation

22 People

People progress highlights Workplace Community

34 Footprint

Footprint progress highlights Climate and energy Forests

Packaging and waste Water

47 Metrics

INTRODUCTION

GOVERNANCE

FOOD

PEOPLE

FOOTPRINT

METRICS

This artwork was created by TRANSIT ARTS apprentice artist, Kendrell Mills. Kendrell is enrolled in Central Community House TRANSIT ARTS program, a citywide youth arts development program in Columbus, Ohio that engages young people with a variety of interactive, multi-disciplinary arts workshops, and performance and exhibit opportunities. In 2023, Wendy's employee resource groups partnered with the organization to host a creative arts event for employees at our Restaurant Support Center.

2

A LETTER FROM KIRK TANNER

Since Wendy's opened its doors in 1969, the brand has remained dedicated to freshness. That applies to our thinking as much as to our food. I am proud to lead the Wendy's family as President and CEO and support our next phase of growth on a global scale.

When I look at Wendy's, I see the highest quality food in the quick-service industry. The brand's commitment to doing the right thing and never cutting corners is what attracted me first as a customer, and now as a member of the Wendy's family. Our strategic focus on driving global sales momentum, accelerating our digital business and expanding our footprint is key to becoming an even greater force for good in the world and I couldn't be more

excited about the strength of the business, the energy of our restaurant support teams and franchisees, and the opportunity in front of us.

Good Done Right is an integral part of our growth strategy, with a firm focus on the commitments we have made across our Food, People and Footprint pillars. To be truly sustainable in our business, we must consider our impact across the many stakeholders of Wendy's - our customers, our people, our shareholders and, of course, our communities and planet. Good Done Right is also good business. As we make headway on our goals, we deliver economic benefits such as savings and efficiencies for our restaurants while also improving our impact through energy and emissions reductions and more sustainable packaging. As we support our employees' growth and development, we also strengthen the communities in which we operate. And, as we certify that our priority food categories have been sourced and handled responsibly, we raise the standards of quality for which Wendy's is known even further.

Whether we're providing consistent quality and great value for our customers, supporting our employees, or being good stewards of our communities and planet, common principles apply. One is to never rest on past success: "good" is the launching pad for "better." Another is "show, don't tell." Our commitment to responsible business practices is meaningful only to the extent that we back it up with action, which we are pleased to highlight in this year's report.

We know our work alone can only take us so far. It's through partnership and collaboration that real change can be made. One of our strengths is how we partner and collaborate with the stakeholders within and outside our walls. These include our franchisees, our direct suppliers and the thousands of others who supply them, our employees and restaurant teams, our shareholders, and the industry and expert groups who help inform our work, drive progress and push past the status quo.

Guided by our principles and joined by our partners, we are working to help shape the future of fast-food - one that's inclusive, equitable and keenly focused on the advancement of people, care for the planet and constant focus on making our customers' lives better. It is a privilege to lead this exceptional organization, and I am excited to see the ways our ongoing endeavors will further mold and fuel the future of our business, industry and world.

Thank you for your support,

Kirk Tanner, President and CEO

3

Q&A with Liliana Esposito, Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer

Wendy's has chronicled a lot of achievements since beginning to report on Good Done Right progress. How would you characterize this work in 2023?

Over this past year, we have continued focus on the goals we set under our Good Done Right strategy. We have been deliberate about making measurable progress and sharing results, all made possible through collaboration with our franchisees, supply chain and industry partners. For example, this was our second year reporting against our science-based emissions reduction targets and we are already advancing against our scope 1 and 2 targets, which focus on emissions generated from Company operations, and our franchisee scope 3 target, which aims to address emissions from our franchised restaurants.

As you'll see in these pages, whatever we can measure, we strive to improve upon year after year.

Wendy's founder Dave Thomas emphasized the importance of community. How is Wendy's sustaining that tradition today?

Community applies both inside and outside our Company. We believe we are at our best when our teams reflect the communities we serve, and we continue to strive to build inclusive and equitable workplaces and communities. Within Wendy's, our seven Employee Resource Groups hosted more than 40 events this year, with a mission to foster an inclusive and welcoming work environment.

In the communities we serve, foster care adoption continues to be a focus as part of our founder's legacy. In 2023, total annual fundraising efforts, including Frosty Boo! Books® and Frosty® Key Tags, raised more than $27 million for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption®. Our 30 years of championing foster care adoption stands alongside our support for other national and locally based causes that make a difference in the areas of hunger, youth development and community-building.

How is Wendy's continuing to make progress in food sourcing, quality and safety to meet the Company's emphasis on high-quality, fresh ingredients?

A rigorous food safety and quality program is the foundation of our food strategy and our culture of food safety. This year, we continued our Restaurant Food Safety Assessments (FSAs) program in partnership with EcoSure, conducting more than 12,000 FSAs at Wendy's restaurants across the globe.

Our responsibility isn't limited to what happens inside our restaurants, as we use ingredients from a vast array of farmers and suppliers in our menu items. That's why we partner with our suppliers to establish and adhere to strict standards, which we affirm via audits conducted by third parties and Wendy's quality assurance experts, and why we set and are diligently working toward our responsible sourcing goal. Additionally, our investments in new technologies and systems underpin these efforts and make tracking and monitoring this work even more efficient and reliable.

What role do franchisees play in supporting Good Done Right progress to drive emissions reductions?

Our relationships with franchise partners play a pivotal role in advancing our Good Done Right strategy. Our franchise partners' active involvement in reducing Wendy's scope 3 emissions is just one way our collaboration supports and brings us closer to our goals.

In 2023, we more than doubled the number of franchisees enrolled in Wendy's Energy Challenge (WEC) compared to 2022. Franchisees participating in WEC are showing incredible progress in reducing their energy consumption, contributing to a decrease in Wendy's scope 3 emissions. This year, we celebrated several franchisees for achieving a 20% or greater energy reduction from their base year.

In addition to realizing energy efficiency improvements, our franchisees are also beginning to source renewable energy through participation in Ampion's community solar program with bundled renewable energy certificates (RECs). Nearly 40 franchise-operated restaurants in New York and Illinois are enrolled to begin sourcing solar energy this year, and we're excited to recruit franchisees in Massachusetts once more solar capacity becomes available. This is in addition to the nearly 100 Company-operated restaurants enrolled in the program.

What is required to overcome obstacles to achieving your goals?

Partnership and collaboration - within our full supply chain and across the broader industry - are critical to meeting our commitments and solving shared challenges.

For example, our total protein supply chain spans more than 20,000 farms and facilities, and we only have direct business relationships with a small number of these suppliers. In 2023, we made significant headway in forging new relationships and increasing supply chain visibility, particularly through our Animal Care Standards Program (ACSP). We will need to continue to enhance visibility and traceability, and establish deeper connections with suppliers and producers, to effect change further back in the supply chain. With the strides we have made through the ACSP, our responsible sourcing work and industry engagement, we are optimistic for what lies ahead and look forward to continuing this journey.

4

FOOD

PEOPLE

FOOTPRINT

Goal year1 Status

Responsibly source our

top 10 priority food categories 2030 in the U.S. and Canada

→ Have a comprehensive

accounting of animal

Increase the representation of underrepresented populations among our Company's leadership and management, as well as the diversity of our franchisees

Goal year Status

2025

Goal year Status

Compared to a 2019 base year,

reduce:

→ Absolute Scope 1 and 2

greenhouse gas emissions

2030

by 47%

welfare best practices for

beef, pork, chicken, eggs

2024

and dairy through the Wendy's Animal Care Standards Program.

  • Source 100% of our U.S. and Canadian beef, chicken and

pork from suppliers that

2030

prohibit the routine use of

medically important

antibiotics.2

→ Achieve sector-specific

targets through our

membership with the U.S.

Multiple

Roundtable for Sustainable

Beef (see responsible

sourcing for more details).

Increase representation of

2025

women in leadership

Increase representation of

people of color in

2025

management and leadership

Understand and address

what has been referred to

2025

as the "broken rung" of

leadership

Increase representation of

diverse and women-owned

2025

franchisees

→ Continue to drive diversity

2025

on the Board of Directors

On track

Needs

Ahead

attention

of pace

→ Scope 3 greenhouse gas

emissions intensity by

2030

47% per metric ton of

purchased goods

→ Scope 3 greenhouse gas

emissions intensity by 47%

2030

per franchise restaurant

Through the U.S. Department

of Energy's Better Buildings®

Challenge, reduce energy

consumption in Company-

2025

operated restaurants by

20% per transaction, from

a 2012 baseline

Sustainably source 100% of

our customer-facing

2026

packaging in the

U.S. and Canada

1 To be completed by the end of the goal year.

2 To inform solutions that will aim to eliminate the routine use of medically important antibiotics, we will need to gain greater visibility into the use of antibiotics further upstream than our direct and approved raw materials suppliers. This will help us to better understand which antibiotics are being used and for what purposes. This applies to our beef and pork supply chains in the U.S. and Canada and our chicken supply chain in Canada. More information is available here.

5

BUSINESS

SNAPSHOT

Fiscal Year 2023

Business snapshot

33

COUNTRIES &

U.S. TERRITORIES

$14.1B

In Systemwide sales

$2.2B

In revenue

INTRODUCTION

GOVERNANCE

FOOD

PEOPLE

FOOTPRINT

METRICS

A LETTER FROM KIRK TANNER

Q&A WITH LILIANA ESPOSITO

GOALS AND KEY PROGRESS

BUSINESS SNAPSHOT

4.3%

7,240

6,825

Global same-restaurant

Restaurants across the globe

Franchise-operated restaurants

sales growth

13%+ 415 15,300

Global digital sales mix

Company-operated restaurants

Company employees

6

GOVERNANCE

Stewarding our business responsibly

OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT

MATERIAL ISSUES

OUR CONTRIBUTION

TO THE SDGS

REPORTING AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Board Diversity

Ethical Business Practices

Data Security & Privacy

Responsible Marketing

Brand Trust

7

INTRODUCTION

GOVERNANCE

FOOD

PEOPLE

FOOTPRINT

METRICS

OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT

OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT

REPORTING AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Board of Directors

Our directors have a diversity of experience and perspective that spans a broad range of industries in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. They bring to our Board a wide variety of skills, attributes, qualifications and experiences that strengthen the Board's ability to carry out its oversight role on behalf of our stockholders.

Our Board of Directorsoversees the Company's corporate governance strategy, policies and programs and monitors emerging best practices in corporate governance. Members of our Board serve on various standing committees, including those with oversight for our ESG strategy and objectives.

These Board committees include:

  • Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee: Assists the Board in reviewing and overseeing the membership of the Board and corporate governance principles applicable to the Company
  • Corporate Social Responsibility Committee: Assists the Board in reviewing the Company's CSR initiatives, including ESG topics, community outreach and philanthropy
  • Compensation and Human Capital Committee: Assists the Board in discharging its responsibilities relating to compensation of non-employeedirectors and executive officers and reviewing the

Company's human capital management strategies and policies, including those regarding Diversity and Inclusion

  • Audit Committee: Assists the Board in overseeing the Company's accounting and financial reporting processes and the integrated audits of the Company's financial statements, as well as the Company's risk assessment and risk management policies
  • Technology Committee: Assists the Board in overseeing the Company's overall development, use and risk management of information technology, including digital customer engagement initiatives and the Company's cybersecurity and data privacy programs and policies

Director Skills and Attributes

Number of Directors3

Corporate Strategy and Planning

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Operations

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Industry Experience

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

International

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Marketing, Brand Management and Digital

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Franchise

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Financial Reporting, Oversight and Accounting

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Public Co. Board Experience and Corporate Governance

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Human Capital Management

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Environmental and Corporate Social Responsibility

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Senior Leadership Experience

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

BOARD DIVERSITYBOARD INDEPENDENCETENURE

25%

17%

50%

8%

33%

50%

75%

42%

¢

Diverse

¢

Independent

0-4 Years

5-9 Years

Of our 12 director nominees:4 identify

¢

Not independent

10-14 Years

15+ Years

as Female; 1 identifies as Black; and 2

identify as Hispanic/Latinx

  • Reflects current directors who are standing for re-election at the Company's 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

8

INTRODUCTION

GOVERNANCE

FOOD

PEOPLE

FOOTPRINT

METRICS

OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT

OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT

REPORTING AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

In February 2024, Wendy's Board of Directors completed a CEO succession by appointing Kirk Tanneras Wendy's new President and CEO, and elected Mr. Tanner to serve on the Board. Mr. Tanner succeeded Todd Penegor, who had served in senior leadership positions at Wendy's for more than a decade, including as President and CEO since 2016.

The Board also elected two new members in 2023: MichelleCaruso-Cabrera,the Chief Executive Officer of MCC Productions LLC and a CNBC contributor, joined the Board in March 2023 and Wendy C. Arlin, the former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Bath & Body Works, Inc., joined the Board in December 2023.

Additionally, the Board created the position of lead independent director in October 2023, and the

Company's independent directors appointed Arthur B. Winkleblackto serve in this role. Mr. Winkleblack has served as a member of the Board since May 2016 and continues to serve as a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, in addition to Chair of the Audit Committee. The creation of a lead independent director position reflects corporate governance best practices, enhances Board leadership and oversight and facilitates communication between the Chairman of the Board and the independent directors.

Additional information regarding our Board of Directors can be found in The Wendy's Company's proxy statementfor our 2024 annual meeting of stockholders.

Management

To support our overall ESG strategy, build a sustainable and resilient supply chain, manage climate risk and support safe and responsible work environments, it is vital to establish and observe sound governance and risk management practices.

Wendy's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer jointly lead our ESG Steering Committee. The ESG Steering Committee, made up of senior management personnel, is responsible for:

  • Identifying and monitoring ESG risks and opportunities
  • Setting global ESG strategies
  • Overseeing activities and strategic rollouts across the business
  • Approving ESG goals, key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics

Cross-functional working groups support the ESG Steering Committee in shaping and carrying out our global ESG strategy and Good Done Right goals.

These groups are responsible for:

  • Staying current on risks and opportunities
  • Implementing activities and executing global ESG strategies
  • Recommending and monitoring progress against ESG goals, KPIs and metrics
  • Supporting the development of and approving Wendy's annual Corporate Responsibility reporting processes

9

OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

GOVERNANCE

FOOD

PEOPLE

FOOTPRINT

METRICS

OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT

REPORTING AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Data protection and cybersecurity

Wendy's data protection and information security programs play an essential role in safeguarding our business and individuals engaging with Wendy's from potential risks. At Wendy's, these programs are comprised of our privacy and cybersecurity functions.

Data protection and privacy

Wendy's respects the privacy of individuals. We are committed to protecting the personal information we process about our customers, employees, franchisees and other business partners. To do that, we take steps to limit the processing of data to its stated purpose, notify data subjects in a timely manner of policy changes or in case of a breach of data, and require that third parties processing data on our behalf comply with Wendy's policies and applicable privacy protection laws and regulations.

We work hard to be transparent regarding the personal information we process. Wendy's privacy policyexplains our data processing practices, including the type of personal information we generally collect and how we use it. We keep our privacy policies updated through multiple review processes, including an annual review and reviews necessitated by internal business scope or external legislative changes. We also inform individuals of the options they have in providing information to us, including explaining how to exercise and manage their privacy rights with Wendy's.

Wendy's maintains a comprehensive Data Protection Program, led by our global Data Protection Officer (DPO) and dedicated data specialists, including teams focused on data privacy software engineering, privacy operations, data protection impact risk assessments, and data governance. We have made significant investments in technology and the development of data protection programs. We also have a data training program for employees, including a mandatory annual data compliance training that addresses data handling, data retention and privacy practices.

Wendy's Data Protection Program is based on a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) industry-standard, best practice framework. It also includes components from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Privacy Framework and the International

Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) standards that supplement and enhance the framework.

Annually, we conduct a data protection and privacy assessment against our Data Protection Framework to understand the effectiveness of our processes and identify opportunities for improvement. The assessment results are reviewed by senior leadership and the Audit Committee of Wendy's Board of Directors. We also leverage the results to set program priorities and initiatives each year. The Audit Committee receives regular updates from the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) and DPO regarding our data protection strategy, priorities, risks and industry trends. In addition to our internal assessments, we engage third-party experts to provide independent, external assessments of our data protection controls.

10

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Disclaimer

The Wendy's Company published this content on 23 May 2024 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 23 May 2024 10:02:03 UTC.