Wendy's 2013 Annual Report Download - page 6

• our ability to identify, attract and retain potential franchisees with sufficient experience and financial
resources to develop and operate Wendy’s restaurants successfully;
• availability of qualified restaurant personnel to us and to our franchisees, and the ability to retain such
personnel;
• our ability, if necessary, to secure alternative distribution of supplies of food, equipment and other
products to Wendy’s restaurants at competitive rates and in adequate amounts, and the potential financial
impact of any interruptions in such distribution;
• availability and cost of insurance;
• adverse weather conditions;
• availability, terms (including changes in interest rates) and deployment of capital;
• changes in, and our ability to comply with, legal, regulatory or similar requirements, including franchising
laws, payment card industry rules, overtime rules, minimum wage rates, wage and hour laws, government-
mandated health care benefits, tax legislation, federal ethanol policy and accounting standards;
• the costs, uncertainties and other effects of legal, environmental and administrative proceedings;
• the effects of charges for impairment of goodwill or for the impairment of other long-lived assets;
• the effects of war or terrorist activities;
• expenses and liabilities for taxes related to periods up to the date of sale of Arby’s as a result of the
indemnification provisions of the Arby’s Purchase and Sale Agreement;
• the difficulty in predicting the ultimate costs associated with the sale of restaurants under the Company’s
system optimization initiative, employee termination costs, the timing of payments made and received, the
results of negotiations with landlords, the impact of the sale of restaurants on ongoing operations, any tax
impact from the sale of restaurants, and the future benefits to the Company’s earnings, restaurant operating
margin, cash flow and depreciation; and
• other risks and uncertainties affecting us and our subsidiaries referred to in this Annual Report on
Form 10-K (see especially “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations”) and in our other current and periodic filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
All future written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are
expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. New risks and
uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect us. We
assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K as
a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by Federal securities laws. In addition,
it is our policy generally not to endorse any projections regarding future performance that may be made by third
parties.
Item 1. Business.
Introduction
The Wendy’s Company (“The Wendy’s Company”) is the parent company of its 100% owned subsidiary
holding company Wendy’s Restaurants, LLC (“Wendy’s Restaurants”). Wendy’s Restaurants is the parent company
of Wendy’s International, Inc., now known as Wendy’s International, LLC (“Wendy’s”), which is the owner and
franchisor of the Wendy’s®restaurant system in the United States. As used in this report, unless the context requires
otherwise, the term “Company” refers to The Wendy’s Company and its direct and indirect subsidiaries.
As of December 29, 2013, the Wendy’s restaurant system was comprised of 6,557 restaurants, of which 1,183
were owned and operated by the Company. References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Form 10-K”) to
restaurants that we “own” or that are “company-owned” include owned and leased restaurants. The Wendy’s Company’s
corporate predecessor was incorporated in Ohio in 1929 and was reincorporated in Delaware in June 1994. Effective
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