NEW YORK (AP) — Wendy’s gave its new CEO a pay package worth $4.6 million for the last four months of
2011.
Emil
Brolick was hired last September after Wendy’s ended its failed
marriage with fellow fast-food chain Arby’s. The 63-year-old Brolick has
been on a mission to reinvent Wendy’s as a higher-end burger chain by
focusing on quality ingredients, top-tier employees and remodeled
restaurants.
Brolick’s compensation for the final quarter of the
year included salary of $338,462, a bonus of $500,000, an
incentive-based bonus of $533,026 and stock and option awards worth $3.2
million, according to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
He also received about $55,000 primarily to cover legal expenses related to the negotiation of his
contract.
The
previous CEO of Wendy’s Co., Roland Smith, received a pay package worth
$16.5 million for the first part of 2011, including $11.3 million in
severance pay. The year before, Smith was given a total pay package
worth $4.9 million.
Like many fast food companies, Wendy’s has
struggled to keep up with changing tastes and to adapt to the economic
downturn.
That has led to major shifts in the industry. In 2006 the top
three fast food companies were all hamburger chains — McDonald’s,
Burger King and Wendy’s. But health concerns and changing lifestyles
have paved the way for companies like Subway to claim the No. 2 spot and
put Starbucks at No. 3.
McDonald’s Corp. has managed to keep a
firm hold on its No.1 spot, in large part by continually rolling out
popular new menu items like fruit smoothies and snack wraps.
Brolick,
a former executive with Yum! Brands Inc., has called Wendy’s troubles
"self-inflicted wounds" and laid out plans to turn the company around.
Last fall, for example, Wendy’s introduced its new "W” cheeseburger
line and Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy burger.
The Dublin, Ohio-based company
also plans to test a breakfast menu in select markets later this year.
Among
hamburger chains, Wendy’s last year edged out Burger King in terms of
U.S. sales for the first time since it opened in 1969, according to food
industry research firm Technomic Inc.
That realignment had as
much to do with Burger King’s failure to adapt over the years. But now
the Miami-based chain is looking to revive its brand as well and this
week unveiled its biggest-ever menu revamping. The company also
introduced new employee uniforms and food packaging, as well as plans to
update its aging restaurants.
3G Capital, the private equity firm
that owns Burger King, has said it plans to take the chain public
through a complex deal with Justice Holdings, a London-based shell set
up specifically to invest in the company, within the next three months.
The
AP formula calculates an executive’s total compensation by adding
salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on
deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and option
awards.
The formula does not count changes in the present value of
pension benefits, which makes the AP total slightly different in most
cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
The value that a company assigned to an
executive’s stock and option awards for 2011 was the present value of
what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over
time.
That number is just an estimate and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance
of the company’s stock.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.