20 Bucks to Eat at Wendy's!!

I recently took a friend to eat at Wendy's.  I guess I have seen their commercials for their salads one time too many.  Yikes!  First off, the salad was almost eight bucks.  Eight dollars.  What did it consist of you ask?
Well, I would say it was a smallish bowl of bagged salad greens- you know- the kind you can buy an entire bag of for $2.00 at any grocery store.  Then there was a tiny ( 10 grams, tops) bag of pecans to sprinkle on it.  Also there was four strawberries cut up into it.  All of this was topped with a packet of Marzetti's raspberry salad dressing.  The kind that goes for 75 cents at most major grocery store chains, in their deli section.  Pricing it out, I figure I paid the better part of 8 bucks for $1.76 worth of salad.  Ask me if I'll be going back.
My companion had a double patty hamburger to the tune of 6 dollars.  I also splurged $3.49 on 39 french fries with cheez whiz and a handful of bacon sprinkles.  I am not a satisfied customer.  I understand that Wendy's has struggled with their brand since their founder Dave Thomas' demise.  But while they are trying to rope in the more discerning customer, they are losing people.  There is one heck of a recession going on in case they didn't notice.  A hamburger joint shouldn't be the same price as a steak place!
In addition, I had to wait five minutes for them to throw my salad together.  Had it been a better quality, I wouldn't mind.  But how long does it take to portion out one quarter of a bag of salad greens, slice six strawberries, and toss in the bag of pecans and the dressing?
  I won't be going back.
This is just one of the many problems facing the fast food industry.  As the low skilled workers continue demanding a wage that they can "live on" expect more of this.  What will happen is this:  restaurants will be forced to shave even more from their margin-the only place left is in their products- and consumer interest will drop.  How hard is it really to go to a grocery store and purchase enough products to make 8 salads for what Wendy's charged me for the two meals I bought?  Now before those delightful folks who continue to "debate" me from my Papa John's post move over to this one- a few caveats:
No one forced me to shop at Wendy's I chose to go there, and now I choose to no longer go there because of their overpricing.
Yes, I was aware of Wendy's prices when I stepped up to the counter to make an order.  I won't make the mistake again.
Wendy's market share is dwindling.  They have decided to go after the higher end fast food market, and it is failing miserably.  Dave Thomas prided himself on good food at fair prices.  Since his death, Wendy's has forgotten that.  Think about it, you'll thank me later.