Wendy's Pretzel Bun Replaced With Broche Bun, Customer Outrage Ensues

Wendy's has pulled the popular pretzel bun from its menu and has sparked outrage from some patrons who have claimed they will no longer visit the fast food chain.

The change, much to the chagrin of customers, was to be expected given that the pretzel bun was introduced as a Limited Time Only (LTO) menu item. Some had hoped that the popularity of the item would make Wendy's add the item to the menu on a permanent basis.

Now customers will now be able to choose if they want their burger on a brioche bun, which is a bun made with eggs and butter. The ingredients come together to form a light and fluffy bread that is close to the consistency of a doughnut.

"We've made our Bacon Portabella Melt even more irresistible with a new brioche bun-the kind you'd expect a French chef to make-but at a quick-service price and convenience," Craig Bahner, Wendy's chief marketing officer, said in a statement. "We know our new Bacon Portabella Melt on Brioche may be a mouthful to say. But no matter how you say Brioche or Portabella, we'll gladly serve it to you."

One of the reasons that the pretzel bun was taken off the menu was due to the time it took workers to prepare it, Chief Executive Emil Brolick explained to reporters during a July earnings call.

"When you look at our operating system, I will tell you it's not easy handling things like Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburgers in the back of the house. And when you think about the build of that sandwich … you put all of these things together, and we're used to custom-building sandwiches and building sandwiches to order," he said.

That explanation was not enough to appease some customers.

"Well since Wendy's got rid of the pretzel bun I'm never going back there again. Nice going Wendy's," Emerald-Skye Fink @emeraldskyeee wrote on Twitter.