How Wendy's is Strengthening its Sustainable Sourcing Policy

The sustainability of Wendy’s, one of the world's largest fast food chains, is guided by its 'Good Done Right' ESG framework. It is a strategy built around three core areas: food, people and footprint.

The firm's emphasis on responsible food sourcing, supported by its partnerships with AgriWebb, AgSpire and ranchers across the US, is central to the success of the strategy.

Together, these kinds of collaborations show how responsible, thoughtful procurement can reduce supply chain risks and environmental impacts, simply by combining the technical expertise, financial support and shared sustainability goals of multiple parties.

How Wendy's is building strong, sustainable supply chains

Liliana M. Esposito, Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer at Wendy’s, is heavily involved in everything 'Good Done Right'.

She says that the essence of this work lies in the way Wendy’s approaches its food sourcing by partnering with others to fortify the US beef supply chain.

"These efforts not only protect the long-term quality and availability of our fresh, never-frozen beef, but also advance our efforts to source food responsibly and reduce our environmental footprint," she says.

Steered by its corporate responsibility vision and enduring commitment to quality, Wendy’s has shared updates on its achievements since releasing its 2024 Corporate Responsibility Report earlier in 2025.

Wendy's support for livestock farmers

As part of this ongoing work, Wendy’s has partnered with the Legacy Landscapes Programme – a rancher-led initiative designed to improve livestock and land management practices in beef-producing states including Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

The programme provides both financial and technical support to ranchers, helping them to implement adaptive grazing strategies that improve the overall health of rangeland ecosystems.

Originally funded through seed investment from Nestlé Purina PetCare, Legacy Landscapes is now jointly managed by AgriWebb, the National Grazing Lands Coalition and Regrow.

With the additional backing of several industry partners, the initiative is all about accelerating positive change across the American beef sector.

To this same end, Wendy’s joined forces with AgSpire in 2025 to launch the Fresh Resilience Beef Cattle Programme, designed for small and medium-sized backgrounders and feeders in the Central Plains and Midwest.

The initiative has already started to support nutrient management, feed efficiency and operational resilience for farmers, all while helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well.

Those farmers involved will benefit from tailored guidance, tools and financial assistance that strengthen their operations against environmental and market challenges.

Long-term commitment to responsible growth

Lilliana believes that proactivity is completely essential to Wendy's future as a business, as well as the industry more generally.

"These investments reflect Wendy's belief that meaningful change in the food system requires partnership and collaboration across the entire supply chain," she explains.

"By helping advance resilient beef production, we're working to ensure that our most iconic menu item – our fresh, never frozen Wendy's hamburger – continues to represent quality and reflect responsible business practices."

Throughout its operations, Wendy’s continues to embed its core value of doing the right thing – from fundraising for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (DTFA) to customer-led donation initiatives.

The chain is also progressing towards more sustainable packaging solutions. Its new packaging designs are sustainably sourced and aligned with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s (SFI) certified sourcing standard, confirming that the materials used come from responsibly managed forests.

This effort follows earlier transitions to eco-friendly fry cartons, chilli cups and bakery bags.

"Guided by Good Done Right, we're scaling the practices that make Wendy's thrive, with a long-term view towards sustaining the ecosystems, people and partnerships that are essential to delivering on our quality promise to our customers," Liliana says.

The company plans to unveil further progress in its 2025 Corporate Responsibility Report, expected next spring.