Whatever Happened To Wendy's 'Biggie' Size?

If you were a Wendy's fan in the '90s, you were living through the era of the "Biggie" size. In those heady days, truly massive sizes were the norm in fast food. This was the time of McDonald's famous Supersize and Burger King's King size, which both became menu fixtures around the same time Wendy's started selling its famous Biggie, and a larger size, the "Great Biggie." However, that '90s fast food trend came and went with the decade, and by the mid 2000s Supersize was gone and Wendy's Biggie was no more. Why? In Wendy's case, it mostly came down to simplifying its marketing.

When McDonald's got rid of its Supersize menu in 2004 it eliminated those sizes from the menu, which some attributed to backlash over the unhealthy nature of such huge meals. But when Wendy's followed suit in 2006 and got rid of Biggie sizes, it wasn't actually limiting customer choices. The Biggie simply became Wendy's new medium and stayed the same size, and the Great Biggie became the large, while the old medium became the small. 

This was attributed to two things at the time. One was the term "biggie," which was considered to have a stigma in an era when fast food restaurants were trying to make their meals healthier. The other was simple clarity. Customers were reportedly confused by the Biggie name when it was only Wendy's large, so the company decided to just simplify the names, so people knew what they were getting.

Wendy's drink sizes didn't change at the time, although they've gotten smaller since. In 2006 a Biggie drink was 32 ounces, and a Great Biggie was 42 ounces. The old medium, which became the new small, was 20 ounces. While Wendy's doesn't list drink sizes on its menu today, a look at the calorie count for the largest sizes suggests the large holds about 24-26ish ounces of liquid, although the cups are still bigger to account for ice. 

Several employees have commented on Reddit that the cups themselves are now 35 ounces for a large, and 30 for a medium. Those slightly smaller sizes have been attributed to shrinkflation, but American fast food drink sizes are still massive compared to the past. Up until the '80s the largest soda size at McDonald's was only 20 ounces, and in the '50s when it first offered Coca-Cola, the largest size was 7 ounces.

Wendy's hasn't done away with the Biggie name entirely. In 2019, it introduced "Biggie Bag" meals, which are value meals that include a 4-piece chicken nugget, fries, and a small fountain drink along with the main sandwich for $5. It's a combo that McDonald's basically straight up copied with its own $5 Meal Deals. And Wendy's growing breakfast menu has since added Biggie Combos as well. So while you may not get a Biggie size at Wendy's anymore, the name lives on.