A single franchise in Edmond has revived the burger Wendy’s corporate pulled 13 years ago. It is not a national relaunch, and the company has announced nothing.
A Wendy’s in Edmond, Oklahoma, is selling the T-Rex Burger.
Nine beef patties. Nine slices of cheese. $29.99.
That is one location. Wendy’s corporate has not announced a national return.
What is the Wendy’s T-Rex Burger?
The build is exactly as advertised.
Nine beef patties and nine slices of cheese, plus lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion, ketchup and mayonnaise, stacked between two buns.
The $29.99 price at the Edmond location includes fries, a drink, and an “I Survived the T-Rex Burger” T-shirt.
Anyone who finishes it inside the restaurant within nine minutes receives an additional mystery prize.
Was the T-Rex Burger actually banned?
The burger was never an official Wendy’s menu item in the United States. It existed at a single franchise in Brandon, Manitoba, which sold two or three a day at $21.99 CAD.
After a customer photographed it and posted to Reddit in June 2013, the item went viral internationally. Wendy’s corporate then asked the Brandon location to discontinue it.
A company spokesperson said at the time that Wendy’s neither condones nor promotes the idea of anyone consuming a nine-patty hamburger in one sitting.
The same corporate position presumably applies to the Oklahoma location, so they will probably be told to remove it.
Where did the T-Rex Burger come from?
It started as a joke that customers took seriously.
The burger traces back to a fake Wendy’s advertisement that reportedly ran in Sports Illustrated during the mid-2000s.
People began attempting to order the fictional item. The Brandon franchise eventually decided to make it real.
It stayed a local curiosity for years before the 2013 Reddit post introduced it to a global audience, which is also what ended it.
How did anyone find out about the Oklahoma T-Rex Burger?
The same way as last time.
A customer in Edmond spotted an advertisement for the burger in the restaurant’s window, photographed it, and posted the image to Reddit.
The sign includes the nine-minute challenge and the prize.
Is the T-Rex Burger coming to other Wendy’s locations?
There is no indication that it is.
Dexerto reported that the promotion appears limited to the single Oklahoma franchise, with Wendy’s yet to announce any wider release.
Individual franchisees have latitude over local promotions, which is how the burger existed in Manitoba for years without corporate sanction.
Some locations have continued making it unofficially. In 2024, TikTok creator Anthony Villegas successfully ordered one for around $30, then abandoned it after a few bites.
Why did Wendy’s pull it the first time?
The stated reason was the nutritional content.
A franchise representative explained in 2013 that the sandwich’s nutritional profile was behind the decision to discontinue it.
Various figures for calories and fat content circulate online, most traced to social media creators rather than to Wendy’s or any laboratory analysis. Wendy’s has not published nutritional information for the item, because it is not a company menu product.
What else is Wendy’s doing right now?
The chain has been leaning on nostalgia and limited-time returns across its menu.
The Pretzel Bacon Pub Cheeseburger came back this year after customers selected it in a chain-run contest, joined by the Pretzel Bacon Pub Chicken Sandwich and Bacon Pub Fries.
Wendy’s is also working through a restructuring called Project Fresh, launched following traffic declines and franchisee pressure. The company’s CEO has publicly acknowledged a need to rebuild the menu after quality slipped.
A Halloween Kids’ Meal with $1 books and free Frosty offers is also running.
Where else can you find challenge burgers?
The category has thinned out considerably.
The Heart Attack Grill location in Las Vegas, the best-known restaurant built entirely around oversized burgers, closed earlier this year.
Restaurant eating challenges remain a fixture of independent diners and regional chains, though large operators generally avoid them for the same reason Wendy’s corporate did in 2013.
Anyone considering the Edmond challenge should know that Wendy’s own stated position on nine-patty burgers has not changed since it first pulled the item.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Dexerto, the Edmond promotion details, the single-location limitation, the Sports Illustrated origin and the Anthony Villegas attempt
The Travel, the Reddit discovery, the price comparison against the 2013 Canadian version and the nutritional reasoning behind the original discontinuation
NPR (June 2013), the Wendy’s spokesperson statement and the Brandon location’s daily sales
Sporked, the full ingredient list and the 13-year gap
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