Wendy's is spending $30 million to overhaul its chicken sandwiches

New York City, NY, USA - December 17, 2014: View of Wendy's fast food restaurant in Rego Park / Forest Hills, Queens. On Metropolitan Ave. (iStock)

If you’ve noticed that the chicken in your Wendy’s sandwich has been a little tough lately, you’re not alone: The company itself is spending $30 million in order to give customers more tender fillets.

Over the last few months, Wendy’s has been working to improve the texture of its chicken offerings, and they believe the problem lies with their birds.

According to Business Insider, Wendy’s is working with its chicken suppliers to harvest chickens that are 20 percent smaller, which they hope will result in better sandwiches and salads.

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The company isn’t breeding a different, smaller species of chicken, either. They’re simply specifying that suppliers harvest the birds when they’re younger, and not yet too plump.

The $30 million dollar effort, Wendy’s says, is in direct response to customers complaining of rubbery chicken fillets.

"By specifying a smaller overall bird size on average we were able to get a better quality fillet," said Liliana Esposito, the head of communication for Wendy’s.

Gail Venrick, the company’s senior director of protein procurement, also claims that customers actually prefer the meat from smaller chickens, and they rate it as tastier and less tough than meat obtained from larger birds.

Taste, too, has always been a concern for Wendy’s, but as Business Insider reports, they have previously rolled out efforts to improve flavor by reworking marinades and changing their cooking methods. This time around, however, Wendy’s is mainly concerned with texture.

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Esposito also assured customers that there will be no change to the size of the individual chicken fillets they find in their sandwiches.

Wendy’s has already begun supplying certain locations with the new chicken, and the meat will be served in all restaurants by the end of the second quarter.