Segment Information (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Jan. 03, 2021

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Information

Segment Information

The Company is comprised of the following segments: (1) Wendy’s U.S., (2) Wendy’s International and (3) Global Real Estate & Development. Wendy’s U.S. includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S. and derives its revenues from sales at Company-operated restaurants and royalties, fees and advertising fund collections from franchised restaurants. Wendy’s International includes the franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in countries and territories other than the U.S. and derives its revenues from royalties, fees and advertising fund collections from franchised restaurants. Global Real Estate & Development includes real estate activity for owned sites and sites leased from third parties, which are leased and/or subleased to franchisees, and also includes our share of the income of our TimWen real estate joint venture. In addition, Global Real Estate & Development earns fees from facilitating Franchise Flips and providing other development-related services to franchisees. The Company measures segment profit based on segment adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”). Segment adjusted EBITDA excludes certain unallocated general and administrative expenses and other items that vary from period to period without correlation to the Company’s core operating performance. When the Company’s chief operating decision maker reviews balance sheet information, it is at a consolidated level. The accounting policies of the Company’s segments are the same as those described in Note 1.

Revenues by segment are as follows:

	Year Ended
	2020		2019		2018
Wendy’s U.S.	$	1,431,382	$	1,404,307	$	1,312,491
Wendy’s International	65,642		68,198		67,630
Global Real Estate & Development	236,801		236,497		209,815
Total revenues	$	1,733,825	$	1,709,002	$	1,589,936

The following table reconciles profit by segment to the Company’s consolidated income before income taxes:

	Year Ended
	2020		2019		2018
Wendy’s U.S. (a)	$	393,314	$	369,193	$	355,455
Wendy’s International	20,119		20,246		25,597
Global Real Estate & Development	100,731		107,116		110,632
Total segment profit	514,164		496,555		491,684
Advertising funds surplus	2,904		1,337		4,153
Unallocated general and administrative (b)	(94,256)		(81,230)		(104,208)
Depreciation and amortization	(132,775)		(131,693)		(128,879)
System optimization gains, net	3,148		1,283		463
Reorganization and realignment costs	(16,030)		(16,965)		(9,068)
Impairment of long-lived assets	(8,037)		(6,999)		(4,697)
Unallocated other operating income, net	190		291		444
Interest expense, net	(117,737)		(115,971)		(119,618)
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	—		(8,496)		(11,475)
Investment (loss) income, net	(225)		25,598		450,736
Other income, net	1,449		7,771		5,381
Income before income taxes	$	152,795	$	171,481	$	574,916

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(a)2020 includes advertising funds expense of $14,600 related to the Company funding of incremental advertising.

(b)Includes corporate overhead costs, such as employee compensation and related benefits. 2018 also includes the impact of legal reserves for a settlement of the financial institutions class action of $27,500.

Net income (loss) of our equity method investments for the Brazil JV and TimWen are included in segment profit for the Wendy’s International and Global Real Estate & Development segments, respectively. Net income (loss) of equity method investments by segment was as follows:

	Year Ended
	2020		2019		2018
Wendy’s International	$	(417)	$	(1,022)	$	(1,344)
Global Real Estate & Development	6,513		9,695		9,420
Total net income of equity method investments	$	6,096	$	8,673	$	8,076