The ‘Wendyverse’ Is a Virtually Tasteless Restaurant

Fast food brands are scrambling to join the Metaverse because… reasons

Image: Wendy’s (Edited by author)

Since the NFT boom of 2021 began, brands have tried to find ways to capitalize on the hype. In particular, fast food brands have been desperately scrambling to join in but are quickly discovering a lack of use-cases in the crossover between digital assets and fast food. The result has been a host of unnecessary NFT projects, like McDonald’s Big Mac Rubik’s Cube, Taco Bells Taco GIFS, and Pizza Hut’s 1 Byte Favourites. I mean, who wouldn’t want to boast about owning a pixelated slice of pizza?

Now, the brands are at it again, falling over themselves in a frenzy to join the Metaverse, and are beginning to deliver equally unnecessary projects.

On April 2, Wendy’s opened the virtual doors to the ‘Wendyverse,’ and gave us a glimpse at what the digital fast-food world will look like. The company has teamed up with Meta to launch the project, which features a virtual restaurant located in a Wendy-branded virtual town square. Users can walk around (Read: float around), interacting with a virtual Fanta soda stream and a virtual basketball court, where users can shoot hoops with a virtual ‘Baconator.’ (At least this one is a far healthier version.)

The catch? There’s nothing to eat in this fast food joint.

When you can’t order food, either for the real world or digitally, the whole concept appears to be a case of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Nonetheless, Wendy’s is confident that the project, described as the “first phase” of its Metaverse strategy, is a worthwhile endeavor. In a statement, chief marketing officer Carl Loredo said, “Truly a first of its kind, the Wendyverse bridges the best of today with tomorrow to show up for our fans across every world — with a Frosty and fries in hand.”

What the project will look like once finished is anyone’s guess; perhaps users can order through the virtual world and have it delivered to their home? Or will the future avatars need the same necessities in the digital world that real humans need, like food, water and sleep? Will this pave the way for jobs as virtual workers, serving those within the Metaverse? Whatever form…