What Happens To Unsold Burger Meat At Wendy's?

Whether you order a Baconator, a Dave's Double, a Big Bacon Classic, or any other Wendy's burger, you know the patties will be in the chain's signature square shape and made from fresh meat. Wendy's sources its iconic beef from North American suppliers who are Beef Quality Assurance-certified, part of its process for delivering a premium product. But what happens to the burger meat that goes unsold? Instead of wasting the food, the chain uses it in its chili.

The beef patties are cooked a little in advance so they'll be ready for orders instead of customers having to wait for them to be grilled. Current and former Wendy's workers explained on Reddit how some of those burgers get turned into chili meat. After being cooked, the patties are held on the grill. If they're not used within a certain period of time — somewhere around 30 to 45 minutes — they'll start to get dry and will no longer be good enough to serve. When that happens, they're put in a warming drawer. At the end of the day, or when the drawer is full, the cooked burgers are boiled in water to remove some of the grease and help break up the meat, then chopped up and frozen to make chili the next day.

However, the workers said the beef for the chili isn't always from leftover burgers. If there isn't enough from them, more patties are cooked and chopped specifically for that purpose.

The way Wendy's repurposes beef patties that don't make it into burgers for its chili isn't something it developed over time, but something that was intended from the very start. When Dave Thomas founded the chain he named after his daughter (something he later came to regret) in 1969, chili was one of just five things to order at the first location in Columbus, Ohio, along with burgers, fries, soda, and the Frosty. Thomas came up with the idea of putting it on the menu to use up unsold patties instead of throwing them out, knowing that the fresh meat he'd committed to using wouldn't last as long as frozen beef and that excess could be repurposed the same way.

To fulfill Thomas' plan, his wife, Lorraine, and a friend worked to create a chili recipe for Wendy's. It's largely the same one the chain still uses, although one ingredient that helps make it taste so good is a flavor enhancer containing yeast extract, which acts like MSG.

Bulked up with beef and both pinto and kidney beans, the chili is a good source of protein, with 19 grams in a small serving and 25 grams in a large. It's also part of its Chili Cheese Fries, Chili & Cheese Baked Potato, and Taco Salad.