Wendy’s is bringing back a chief operating officer role as it restructures its U.S. leadership, with President, U.S. Pete Suerken set to leave the company at the end of August.
Suerken will depart Wendy’s on August 31, 2026, and return to his previous position as president and CEO of Quality Supply Chain Co-op (QSCC), the independent purchasing cooperative serving the Wendy’s system. He led QSCC from 2021 to 2025 before joining Wendy’s as U.S. president. The changes were disclosed in a regulatory filing.
The departure will effectively bring an end to the latest iteration of Wendy’s U.S. president structure. The company said it plans to revive the chief operating officer position, which was eliminated more than six years ago. Wendy’s is now searching for an executive to fill the role and help CEO Robert Wright lead the company’s turnaround.
The organizational change comes at a difficult moment for the burger chain. Wendy’s has closed a significant number of U.S. restaurants and recorded six consecutive quarters of declining same-store sales. The company is also facing pressure from activist investor Trian Partners, led by former Wendy’s board chair Nelson Peltz.
Wright has said the company is moving with urgency to address the business, with priorities including improving the menu, strengthening Wendy’s value proposition and rebuilding the brand through more distinctive marketing. The new COO will be responsible for translating those strategic priorities into restaurant-level execution.
The return to a COO-led structure is notable because Wendy’s has repeatedly changed how it organizes its domestic operations. The chain eliminated the COO role when it moved toward a U.S. president structure in 2019. The U.S. president position was subsequently eliminated in 2023 before being revived in 2024. Abigail Pringle held the role before leaving roughly 15 months later, followed by Suerken.
Suerken’s return to QSCC is particularly relevant given his supply-chain background. Before taking over the cooperative in 2021, he held senior positions at Resin Technology and Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions. QSCC manages billions of dollars in purchasing contracts across food, packaging, operating supplies and equipment for Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.
