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Pedestrians walk past a Wendy's restaurant, June 13, 2011, in Chicago. (Scott ...

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For Wendy's and Burger King the past five years have been tumultuous. Obesity concerns, the recession and the slow pace of improvement in the U.S. economy have taken their toll. When you add the management changes and internal issues both have faced, it is no wonder that McDonalds with its consistent advertising and marketing strategy, low costs and strong supply chain lead both by a wide margin.

But Burger King before now has always managed to stay ahead of Wendy's. Wendy's has long been regarded as somewhat quirky with its square burgers and a weak menu of side items. But last year, the chain all of a sudden got more focused retooling its buns and burgers to be more conventional, introducing new fries with sea salt, making its salads…well…salads and resurrecting its very successful "Where's The Beef" advertising campaign.

Burger King, on the other hand, after a management change, banishing the increasingly unpopular Burger King and a change in its advertising agency seems to be struggling to define itself. Both Wendy's and Burger King have stated they are focusing on the food, but Wendy's change is significant and unmistakable while Burger King seems to be trying to convince us and themselves that the food we are familiar with is somehow different and that what we didn't understand is how much care they take in preparing it. I'm not sure consumers are buying that explanation. So now, after last year's dollars are all tallied up and accounted for, Wendy's despite having nearly 1,400 fewer stores is expected to have earned more than $53 million more than Burger King with an increase of 1.1 percent to Burger King's 3.9 percent decline.

Source: ABC News