This Wendy's Menu Item Appears To Be Shrinking In Size, According To Customers

Fast food price hikes have been outpacing inflation over the last decade, according to FinanceBuzz. While this is true at many restaurant chains, portions also appear to be shrinking. It's not just fast food, either — many popular products are decreasing in size as prices go up. Folks on Reddit have noticed one possible example of this trend toward smaller portions without lower prices, also known as shrinkflation. The alleged culprit? Wendy's chicken nuggets.

As one customer wrote, it's "Shrinkflation on top of inflation, the ol' double whammy." Another user agreed, writing, "Sell less for more. Every company's dream." While prices for this item vary by location, the alleged size decrease is a common complaint on Reddit. Some commenters blamed this perceived change on the corporate level, where numbers, not food, are all that matters. Users are confident that, as long as the people making decisions care more about the shareholders than the customers, this pattern will only continue.

One commenter who works at a Wendy's and dislikes the reportedly smaller nuggets explained in the thread, "We recently switched to a different company/source for nuggets and also a bunch of other stuff." In a separate Reddit thread about the same issue, a few people elaborated on the size, with one writing, "Most of mine were about a quarter size and triangle shaped."

Not only do Wendy's nuggets appear to be smaller than before, but customers are pointing out that they're also less juicy. One disappointed diner wrote on Reddit that "they were some of my favorite fast food nuggets before, now I don't even want them." Another user explained that the item is "Bland tasting and dry."

After writing that the nuggets taste like cardboard and have the consistency of cheese puffs, a customer in a separate Reddit thread called them "a dainty airy chicken paste sponge" and summed up their thoughts with a simple, "do better Wendys." Others mourned the loss of what was once their favorite fast food nugget. Several have opted to just buy frozen nuggets from the grocery store and cook them at home.

Some users also commented on a perceived decrease in the quality of Wendy's barbecue sauce. "It tastes like corn syrup that was placed next to a bottle of liquid smoke," one commenter colorfully described. This apparent change is worsened by the fact that many customers loved the old recipe. This apparent loss of quality is just one of the many reasons we're worried about Wendy's future.