Effective Date: 1/1/2023
Welcome!
Thank you for viewing Wendy’s (“Wendy’s,” “our,” “us,” “we”) privacy policy. This privacy policy applies to consumers visiting our restaurants; using the Wendy’s website (www.wendys.com), other related websites, mobile applications (“mobile app(s)”), and other services, tools, and applications; and otherwise interacting with us (collectively, “services”). By using the Wendy’s services, you agree to our Terms and Conditions and consent to Wendy’s information collection, use, and disclosure practices, and other activities as described in this privacy policy. If you do not agree and consent, please discontinue use of the Wendy’s services.
This privacy policy explains our privacy practices – the information we collect and how it’s used, the choices you can make about the collection and use of information you submit through our services, and our commitment to protecting your privacy. We want you to have all the information you need to make informed decisions before you use the Wendy’s services.
California Notice: California Consumers can find information about their California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) rights, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), and how to exercise them here. California Consumers may submit CCPA-related requests to Wendy’s by filling out the form here or by calling us toll-free at 1 (888) 624-8140. Virginia residents can find information about their Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) rights and how to exercise them here . Virginia residents may submit VCDPA-related requests to Wendy’s by filling out the form here .
1. Information We Collect
When you use our services, we, or vendors acting on our behalf, may collect your information. This generally happens in one of three ways – you provide us with information, we collect information through automated methods, or we collect information from other sources.
There are some situations in which it is necessary for us to collect your information in order to provide a service to you or to meet legal requirements. Rest assured, when you share your information with us, we only use it to give you a great Wendy’s experience.
Information You Provide Us
You may share certain information when you interact with us. For instance, when you create a MyWendy’s account or call our Customer Care line, you may provide us with information about you and your experience with Wendy’s. For example, you may provide:
Information Collected Through Automated Methods
When you use our services, our technology has the ability to collect certain types of information. For example, when you use the Wendy’s mobile app to place an order, depending on your device’s location settings, we may use your location to determine which restaurant is closest to you to ensure you place your order from the right restaurant.
We, as well as certain vendors we work with (including those that provide content and other functionality on Wendy’s services) may use cookies, web beacons, and other similar tracking technologies, and the information collected from such technologies, as part of our services. We also collect:
Information From Other Sources
Sometimes we may get information about you from other companies. For instance, when you tag or direct message us through social media, we may collect information about you. We also offer social networking sign-on services that allow you to use social networking credentials to access our services.
Compiling Information
We may combine certain information we collect, both from you or automatically, with other information we obtain about you from third parties. This information about your online activities over time and across different services gives us a better idea of the profile of a Wendy’s customer and helps us improve our services. For instance, we may combine information from various sources to serve personalized experiences and targeted offers that reflect your preferences and predispositions.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for various purposes – including improving our operations and providing you with our services, generating analytics, and for fraud prevention and legal purposes – which help us provide you with a better Wendy’s experience and learn how consumers interact with our services. For instance, using cookies can enhance your experience with our services by remembering your log-in status and viewing preferences from a previous use of our services.
To Operate and Provide Our Services
We use much of the information we collect to operate and provide you with our services. For instance, we use your information to:
To Analyze and Better Understand Our Consumers
We collect and use information in connection with interest-based advertising, and we may share this information with our vendors. Our vendors, such as our advertising partners, may use, store, or access cookies, web beacons, and other storage technologies to collect or receive information from our services and elsewhere on the Internet. This information is used to provide advertising services, including advertisements targeted to your interests. For instance, we may use your personal information to:
To Prevent Fraud and For Other Legal Purposes
We may use the information we collect to prevent, detect, and investigate fraud, security breaches, and potentially prohibited or illegal activities; enforce our Terms and Conditions; or otherwise comply with applicable laws and regulations.
3. How We Share Your Information
We may share or disclose your information to other entities in our corporate family, our franchisees, vendors acting on our behalf, governmental agencies, and other entities.
Our Corporate Family
We may share or disclose your information to our corporate family, which includes our affiliates, to:
Franchisees
While this privacy policy does not apply to data processed solely by our franchisees on their own behalf in connection with restaurants, websites, or applications they own and independently operate, we do share information with our franchisees to ensure you have a seamless experience. For instance, we share information with our franchisees if you make an order through our services for pickup at a franchise restaurant.
Vendors Acting on Our Behalf
We may share your information with vendors who help with our business operations, such as fraud investigations, bill collection, payment processing, gift card support, analytics, operations, and delivery of marketing communications.
Government and Law Enforcement
We may share your information as required or permitted by law, including sharing with governmental agencies, law enforcement, or authorized third parties, in response to a verified request relating to a criminal investigation or alleged illegal activity or any other activity that may expose us, you, or any other party to legal liability.
Business Transactions
We may share your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any proposed or actual merger, purchase, sale, or any other type of acquisition or business combination of all or any portion of our assets, or transfer of all or a portion of our business to another company.
Other Entities
We may disclose your information to other parties at your request or if you otherwise provide your consent to such disclosure.
4. Your Options
When it comes to your information, you have options. Wendy’s wants to make sure you are informed about those options when it comes to trusting us with your information. You may have the ability to update your communication and marketing preferences and to review, and update or change the information you have provided to us. Certain consumers, such as California and Virginia residents, may have additional legal rights as explained below.
Update Your Communication and Marketing Preferences
If you do not wish to receive marketing communications from us, you can opt out of future marketing communications by following the instructions provided in those communications, for instance, in the unsubscribe link footer of your Wendy’s Mail. You may also change your communications preferences by logging in and accessing your account settings at order.wendys.com. Opting out of marketing communications will not affect our administrative communications to you (e.g., communications about your transactions or policy changes).
Review, Update, or Change Your Information
If you have a MyWendy’s account, you may review, update, and change the information you provide to us at any time by accessing your account settings.
Location Tracking
You may be able to enable or disable location tracking by adjusting the permissions on your device. Be aware that if precise location services are disabled, other means of establishing or estimating location (e.g., connecting to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, beacons, or our networks) may persist.
Wendy’s Mobile App Permissions and Uninstallation
You may be able to enable or disable certain features related to our mobile app (e.g., location tracking and push notifications) by adjusting the permissions on your device. If you do not want to continue to provide us information through the mobile app, you may uninstall our mobile app from your device. If you want to delete your MyWendy’s account, you can do so in the settings of the mobile app or call us toll-free at 1 (888) 624-8140.
Some folks like to order on our mobile app (and we like it when they do!). While this privacy policy is intended to explain the entirety of our privacy practices, we also have a Mobile Apps Policy which explains our privacy practices and information collection as it relates to the mobile app only. Check it out and then order yourself some nuggs!
Your Cookie and Other Tracking Technology Choices
We and third-party vendors may use first-party cookies or other first-party identifiers, as well as third-party cookies or other third-party identifiers, to deliver advertisements, create a profile about you, measure your interests, detect your demographics, detect your location, and personalize content.
Your web browser may have settings that allow you to transmit a “Do Not Track” signal when you visit various websites or use online services. Like many websites and online services, Wendy’s services are not designed to respond to “Do Not Track” signals received from browsers. To learn more about “Do Not Track” signals, you may wish to visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com/.
To find out more about how these third-party tracking technologies manage the privacy of information in conjunction with delivering ads online, and how to opt-out of information collection by these networks, please visit: youradchoices.com ,aboutads.info/appchoices, optout.networkadvertising.org, or networkadvertising.org/mobile-choice.
We may also use certain third-party web analytics services, such Google Analytics, to help us understand and analyze how visitors use our services. We use this information to implement Google advertising features such as remarketing with analytics, interest-based advertising, demographics and interests reporting, user segment analysis, and impression reporting. For more information on how Google Analytics uses data collected through the Wendy’s services, visit: www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. To opt out of Google Analytics cookies, visit: http://www.google.com/settings/ads and https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.
5. Children’s Privacy
Our online services are not intended for children under the age of 16 and we do not knowingly collect information online from children under the age of 16. If we become aware that we have obtained information from a child under the age of 16 we will delete such information in accordance with applicable law.
6. International Consumer Privacy
While our franchisees operate in countries around the world, Wendy’s only owns and operates restaurants in the United States and the United Kingdom. To support these operations, the majority of our computer systems, networks, and devices are currently based in the United States. Accordingly, personal information we obtain through our services may be processed in the United States. By accessing our services, you consent to the collection and processing of your personal information in the United States. For more information on our personal data processing in connection with our operations in Canada visit here or the United Kingdom visit here.
7. California Consumer Privacy Notice
The California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act and together with related regulations the “CCPA”) is a state law intended to enhance privacy rights and Consumer protection for residents of California. This California notice supplements the other parts of our privacy policy and provides additional information for California Consumers. In the event of a conflict between any other Wendy’s policy, statement, or notice and this California notice, this California notice will prevail as to California Consumers’ rights under the CCPA. Capitalized terms defined in the CCPA that are used in this California notice shall have the same meaning as in the CCPA. Unless otherwise noted, the disclosures contained within this California notice cover our activities in the prior 12 months from the Effective Date as well as our current practices.
The CCPA defines Personal Information as information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular Consumer or household.
Under the CCPA, California Consumers have certain rights that they may exercise independently or through an authorized agent. CCPA rights requests are subject to an identification and verification process. We will not fulfill a CCPA request unless we have been provided sufficient information for us to reasonably verify the identity of the requestor and the validity of the request. We will not discriminate against you if you exercise any of the rights provided by the CCPA. We encourage you to take an active role in the management of your privacy.
California Consumer Privacy Act
In accordance with CCPA’s requirements, this notice describes our collection, use, and disclosure, and the sources and purposes thereof, of California Consumers' Personal Information, as well as the rights California Consumers have under the CCPA.
This California notice applies to California Consumers that visit restaurants or otherwise use our services. If you are a current employee of Wendy’s, you may view our California employee notice by visiting WeConnect. If you are an applicant of Wendy’s please visit here to view our California notice. If you are a franchisee applicant please visit here to view your California notice.
How and Why We Collect Your Personal Information
We collect the categories of Personal Information about California Consumers that are indicated in the chart below. Note that the specific pieces of Personal Information we collect about you may vary depending on the nature of your interactions with us, and may not include all of the examples listed.
Category of Personal Information | Business Purposes for Collection, Use, and Disclosure | ||
(1) Identifiers such as name, address, email address, birthdate, online identifiers, or other similar identifiers. |
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(2) Personal Records – such as phone number or payment card information. |
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(3) Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law such as age, gender or race and ethnicity. |
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(4) Customer Account Details/ Commercial information such as purchase history or tendencies. |
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(5) Internet or other electronic network activity information such as IP address, device identifiers, device advertising identifiers, mobile network, operating system details, language preferences, referring URLs, length of visits, anonymous traffic data, pages viewed, and information regarding interactions with our services or advertisements. |
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(6) Geolocation data such as real-time information about the approximate location of your device (GPS and network-based). |
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(7) Sensory Data such as voice recordings from calls to Customer Care and CCTV footage. |
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(8) Inferences used to create a profile reflecting your preferences, characteristics, and behavior. |
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We may also collect Personal Information about you that does not directly fit within one of the categories defined by the CCPA. For example, we collect information you provide such as information about a restaurant visit or transaction when you call Customer Care, use your MyWendy’s account, or interact with us on social media or other websites or mobile apps.
All of the categories of Personal Information described in the above chart may also be disclosed to:
Categories of Recipients with whom Personal Information is Disclosed
We disclose Personal Information as described above in Section 10 and Section 11.
Sources of Personal Information
We collect Personal Information directly from you, your devices or browser, vendors that assist us with providing our services and running our internal business operations, social media platforms, and other data vendors.
Sensitive Personal Information
We collect the following categories of Sensitive Personal Information about California Consumers:
Note that the specific pieces of Sensitive Personal Information we Collected about you may vary depending on the nature of your interactions with us and may not include all of the categories listed above.
Retention of Personal Information
Except as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law or regulation, we will only retain your Personal Information (which includes the categories of Personal Information set forth in the charts and sections above) for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, as required to satisfy any legal obligations, or as necessary to resolve disputes. To determine the appropriate retention period for Personal Information, we consider applicable legal requirements, the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the Personal Information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your Personal Information, the purposes we process your Personal Information for, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means. We will maintain certain types of Personal Information for a limited duration.
Selling and Sharing of Personal Information
We may Sell and/or Share with Third Parties for cross-context behavioral advertising the following categories of Personal Information:
We Sell and/or Share this Personal Information for advertising purposes to Third Parties. The Third Parties to whom this Personal information was Sold and/or Shared are advertisers and analytics vendors. When we use the term Sell, Sold, or Sale we mean for valuable consideration and not monetary value.
We offer you the ability to opt-out of these Sales and Sharing as set forth in the “Opt Out” Section below.
Consumer Rights
The CCPA gives California Consumers certain rights:
Right to know about Personal Information Collected, Disclosed, Shared, or Sold
You have the right to know about your Personal Information that we are currently maintaining and have Collected and disclosed in the 12-month period prior to the date you submit your request. You also have the right to obtain a transportable copy of such Personal Information. Requests of this nature may be made no more than twice in a 12-month period. Please note that we retain Personal Information for various time periods in accordance with applicable law and our internal recordkeeping policies and procedures.
Right to Know
California Consumers have the right to request more information regarding the following:
Right to request deletion of Personal Information
You may request that we delete your Personal Information that we have Collected directly from you and are currently maintaining. Please note, however, that we may have a legal basis for retaining certain Personal Information under the CCPA, despite your request. Requests of this nature may be made no more than twice in a 12-month period.
Right to opt-out of the Sale and Sharing of Personal Information
We engage in Sales and/or Sharing via tracking technologies such as cookies and SDKs through our services. You have the right to opt-out of the Sale and Sharing of your Personal Information in the context of cookies or other tracking technologies. To opt out of Sale and Sharing via cookies and other tracking technologies, please click Here.
You may also opt out of the Sale and/or Sharing of your Personal Information via cookies and other tracking technologies through an opt-out preference signal. In order to process your request through an opt-out preference signal, you must use a browser supporting the preference signal. If you choose to use an opt-out preference signal, you will need to turn it on for each browser and each device you use.
Right to correct Personal Information
You may request that we correct Personal Information that we maintain about you if you believe such Personal Information is inaccurate. We may request documentation from you in connection with your request. We will also require you (or your agent) to be verified before honoring your correction requests. Upon receipt of a verifiable request to correct inaccurate Personal Information, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to correct the information as you direct. You can also correct certain Personal Information that we maintain about you by logging into your MyWendy’s account.
Right to limit use of your sensitive Personal Information
We do not use sensitive Personal Information for the purpose of inferring characteristics about you, or for any other reasons besides the permitted Business Purposes. For this reason, we do not treat the Sensitive Personal Information we Collect as subject to a limit use of Sensitive Personal Information request and, therefore, we do not offer a way for you to submit such a request.
Right to non-discrimination for the exercise of your privacy rights
We will not discriminate against you if you choose to exercise any of the privacy rights described above.
Exercise CCPA Rights
You may submit CCPA-related requests to Wendy’s by filling out the form here or by calling us toll-free at 1 (888) 624-8140.
Please note: Before we can fulfill your request, we must be able to verify your identity. We will ask you to provide your email and will use a verification link pushed out through email or will otherwise attempt to verify that we have a record of you in our systems. If we cannot verify your identity, we may not be able to fulfill your request.
You may authorize an agent to make CCPA-related requests on your behalf. To fulfill requests made by authorized agents, you must provide Wendy’s with enough information such that we can verify the authority of the agent.
Shine the Light
California law permits customers in California to request certain details about how their personal information is shared with third parties, and in some cases affiliates, if personal information is shared for those third parties’ or affiliates’ own direct marketing purposes. We do not share personal information with third parties or affiliates for those third parties’ or affiliates’ own direct marketing purposes. Californians may request information about our compliance with this law by contacting us at [email protected] or by sending a letter to:
Wendy’s International, LLC
One Dave Thomas Boulevard, Dublin, OH 43017, USA
Attn: Legal Department – Privacy/Shine the Light
Any such request must include your name and “California Shine the Light Privacy Rights Request” in the first line of the description and, if sent by mail, must include your street address, city, state, and zip code.
Please note that “Shine the Light” rights and CCPA rights are granted by different laws and must be exercised separately.
Minors
California residents under the age of 18 who have registered to use the services, and who have posted content or information on or through the services, can request that such information be removed by contacting us at [email protected] or by sending a letter stating that they personally posted such content or information and detailing where the content or information is posted, to:
Wendy’s International, LLC
One Dave Thomas Boulevard, Dublin, OH 43017, USA
Attn: Legal Department – Privacy
We will make a reasonable good faith effort to remove the content from prospective public view or anonymize it so the minor cannot be individually identified. However, this removal process cannot ensure complete or comprehensive deletion from the Internet. For instance, third parties may have republished the content or archived copies of it may be stored by search engines or other parties that we do not control.
8. Financial Incentive Disclosure for Wendy’s Rewards Program
This financial incentive disclosure applies to the Wendy’s Rewards program (the “Program”). You opt into the Program by signing up for a MyWendy’s account, which you can terminate at any time by emailing us at [email protected]. To learn more about the Program, please visit the Wendy's Rewards Terms and Conditions here.
Wendy’s Collects Personal Information to facilitate the Program’s operation and provide you with Program benefits. This Personal Information includes your first and last name, email address, and password. You may also provide Wendy’s with your physical address, telephone number, credit or gift card number and security code, birthday, communications preferences (via our website), transaction information, and access to your camera and photos.
Wendy’s values the benefits of the Program as the value of rewards given to members, as outlined in the Wendy's Rewards Terms and Conditions, which varies from year to year. Wendy’s provides the Program benefits to foster a positive relationship with our members that is invaluable.
Please note that if you are a California consumer and submit a CCPA-related deletion request, we will ask you to confirm that you want to terminate your Program membership (and MyWendy’s account). If you choose to retain your Program membership, Wendy’s will continue to use your Personal Information to provide the Program and related services or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.
Please note, however that if you exercise your right to delete under the CCPA, Wendy’s will not have enough information about you to provide you with Program benefits. This is because we use your Personal Information to facilitate the operation of the Program and provide you offers and benefits. You can, however, opt-out of non-Program marketing emails and retain your Program account and benefits.
9. Virginia Privacy Notice
This section applies to Virginia Consumers as defined by the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) that use our services. Capitalized terms defined in the VCDPA that are used in this section shall have the same meaning as in the VCDPA.
You can learn more about the Personal Data we Process in the Information We Collect section and the purpose for processing such Personal Data in the How We Use Your Information section above. You can also learn more about our disclosure of Personal Data and the categories of Third Parties we disclose Personal Data to in the With Whom We Share and Disclose Your Information section above.
We also Process your Personal Data for Targeted Advertising. You have the right to opt out of the Processing of your Personal Data for Targeted Advertising, as described below.
If you are a Virginia Consumer, subject to certain conditions and restrictions set out in the VCDPA and other applicable laws, you have the following rights with regard to your Personal Data:
Virginia Consumers may submit their VCDPA requests here. Please note that, depending on the nature of your request, you may be asked to provide information to verify your identity before your request can be processed. We will confirm receipt of your request and respond to your request as soon as we reasonably can and no later than legally required.
You may exercise your privacy rights under the VCDPA no more than twice in a 12-month period. If you choose to exercise any of the privacy rights described above, you will not receive discriminatory treatment from us.
Careers Website for Applicants
For more information, visit our Careers website and review the Applicant Privacy Policy for Wendy’s Careers Site.
Sweepstakes, Contests, and Promotions
We may offer sweepstakes, contests, and other promotions, including those jointly sponsored or offered by third parties, which may require submitting information. If you voluntarily choose to enter a promotion, your information, including personal information, may be disclosed to us, co-sponsors, and other third parties, including for administrative purposes and as required by law. By entering, you are agreeing to the official rules that govern that promotion, which may include consent to additional or differing privacy practices from those contained in this privacy policy. Please review those rules carefully.
Prospective Franchisees
If you are interested in becoming a Wendy’s franchisee, you can complete our Prospective Franchise Questionnaire here. For more information, visit here.
External Links
For your convenience, Wendy’s services may from time to time include links to websites or other services that are owned or operated by third parties. This privacy policy does not apply to those websites or services, which may have their own privacy policies or notices that you should review to understand how they may collect, use, or disclose your information. Wendy’s is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any linked websites or services that are operated by third parties.
Certain platforms, such as third-party social media networks, may permit interactions that you initiate between the Wendy’s services and third-party services. Examples include: “liking” or “sharing” Wendy’s content; logging in to the Wendy’s services using your third-party service account (e.g., using Facebook Login to sign-in to your Wendy’s account); and to otherwise connect Wendy’s services to a third-party service.
Information Security
We protect your information using technical and administrative security measures to reduce the risks of loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, and alteration. Although we implement reasonable security measures on our services, you should be aware that we cannot guarantee the security of your information submitted via the Internet. It is your responsibility to make sure that your passwords and account registration information are secure and not shared with third parties.
Degree of Engagement
You can engage as little or as much as you want with our services, which means we may get different amounts of information about you depending on your interaction with us.
Changes to this policy
From time to time, we may update this privacy policy and indicate changes by updating the “Effective Date” at the top of the policy.
Your use of Wendy’s services after any update to this privacy policy will constitute your acceptance of the changes. To the extent any provision of this privacy policy is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be severed to the extent necessary for the remainder to be valid and enforceable.
Contact Us
If you have any questions regarding this privacy policy you may email us at [email protected]. We want to hear from you!