North by Northwestern

Dozens of students gathered in the SPAC parking lot Tuesday afternoon to collect free bacon burgers, ice cream and bacon-themed merchandise as part of the Wendy’s Ultimate Baconator Challenge Tour of America.

Sponsored by the unique partnership between the Northwestern Athletics and Recreation and the Parking Enforcement departments, the event is the latest edition of an annual promotional tour for fast food restaurant Wendy’s. According a listserv email from Burgwell Howard, the assistant vice president of student engagement, Northwestern was the top college stop on last year’s tour.

Asked about this year, tour manager Jamie Jackson said that so far Northwestern is still holding the top spot.

“We’ve got the highest numbers today [for student attendance],” Jackson said.

The current tour is focused on advertising one of Wendy’s latest products, the Son of Baconator. According to a report from one of the tour’s previous stops, the Son of Baconator was added to Wendy’s menu in July. The Baconator’s offspring includes “two 2.25-ounce patties of 100-percent North American beef, two slices of American cheese, ketchup and mayonnaise,” along with, of course, “four strips of applewood smoked bacon."

All the ingredients add up to 700 calories and 43 grams of fat packed into what Jackson calls the “compact size of the baconator,” according to Wendy’s online nutrition calculator, making the baconmobile’s location next to SPAC all the more appropriate.

One of the many Wendys stands in front of Kemper Hall on North Campus. Photo by Matt Zellner / North by Northwestern.

Still, something as silly as saturated fats didn’t stop dozens of students from answering the Baconator’s call to Northwestern to “bring your school pride... and your appetite!”

Evander Ramos, a McCormick sophomore, stumbled onto the tour on his walk home from SPAC. Initially, Ramos wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“I was just confused,” said Ramos. “There’s not even a Wendy’s nearby.”

Ramos and other students said they were still pleasantly surprised by the free offerings, which included Son of Baconators and Frostys.

“I didn’t think they would actually give away free burgers,” said Sam Learner, a Weinberg freshman.

While Ramos and Learner were very enthusiastic about the free fast food, they were less so about the small army of Wendys tasked with drawing in passerby. To Ramos, the number of red haired, freckled mascots was excessive.

“I’m in micro-econ,” said Ramos, “it’s just not cost effective.”

Wendy (all of them) declined to comment for this story.