Five Guys isn't in the same category as other fast food chains at all IMHO.
Five Guys provides a different quality of food at a much higher price than McD's, Burger King, In N Out, etc. If the taste/quality is even close between Five Guys and the others listed, no one should ever consider going to Five Guys it'd be overpriced.
Wendy's is in the 'lower cost fast food' category, not the 'over the counter burger' category.
5 guys is like $20 for a burger lol, they are extremely overpriced, and not really fast now that I think of it either. But yea, I'd agree Wendy's is better than most "drive thru fast food", but not quite as good as 5 guys.
Fine, let's talk regional chains then. Better than white castle, not as good as in-n-out or whataburger. Unless we're talking about fries, because in-n-out's fries are soggy fried disappointment.
Wendys hasn't been "better" than McD's for at least 15 years. 80s and 90s Wendys was next level. 00s was the decline, 10s were the bottom out years and they've never recovered.
They're top tier fast food burger chain in terms of quality, way better than McDonald's or Jack in the Box. This is a super asshole business idea though.
Same tier as McDonald’s and Burger King, but at the top while McDonald’s is the floor.
That said I don’t think Wendy’s is all that great. If I had to choose a left turn for Wendy’s or a right turn for McDonald’s I’ll pick mc dicks 10/10 times. Their “fresh never frozen” and “cooked to order” translates to takes 10 times longer than Mcky Ds.
In my experience Wendy's is just as fast as McDonald's. My main complaint is that they'll often forget to include part of what you ordered. For instance, their taco salad comes with a bag of corn chips in the side, but last time I got one they left it out. That's just the most recent example, but the pattern has been fairly consistent over 20+ years and many different locations.
The way I think of it that that when you order from Wendy's, you'll get something fast, but you can never be sure what you're going to get.