I tried Wendy’s new Krabby Patty meal inspired by ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ Nostalgia isn’t enough for brands to win over customers.

As a food reporter, I have tried many celebrity or pop-culture fast-food chain collaborations, from Travis Scott’s blockbuster McDonald’s collaboration to Megan Thee Stallion’s spicy sandwich collaboration with Popeyes. I was interested to see how Wendy’s latest offering stacked up.

I placed my order about five minutes before I got to Wendy’s, and it was ready when I arrived.

Walking up to the restaurant, I noticed the chain was advertising its breakfast hours. However, there were no signs outside advertising the new Krabby Patty meal, which I found surprising. Other locations have gone all-out: A Wendy’s in Panorama City in Los Angeles celebrated the launch with an out-of-this-world “SpongeBob”-themed drive-thru.

At my location, the meal started at $11.89, excluding tax. However, adding the signature Pineapple Under the Sea Frosty cost an extra $0.50.

The price of the meal varies by location, but my local Wendy’s in Ridgewood, Queens, charged $12.39, excluding tax, for the entire meal plus the Frosty.

You can also upgrade the burger to include more patties, but I stuck with the single-patty burger and small order of fries.

I thought the price was fair compared to similar-sized combos at Wendy’s — a Dave’s Single combo with small fries and a drink costs $13.61 at my location — but there are potentially more impressive value meals out there.

When I received the meal, I was disappointed to see that there wasn’t any special packaging differentiating this meal from Wendy’s other menu items. It didn’t feel special or exciting.

As a “SpongeBob” fan, I immediately noticed some discrepancies between the Wendy’s burger and the Krabby Patty from the show.

According to a scene from the series, a Krabby Patty is made with a patty, ketchup, mustard, pickles, onions, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and a bun, which is later revealed to be a sesame-seed bun.

This bun, however, was Wendy’s traditional toasted bun. It also didn’t come with ketchup and mustard, but instead featured a new “top-secret Krabby Kollab sauce” specifically formulated for the collaboration.

It had an almost cartoon-like look to it, from the bright-green lettuce to the bright-yellow melty cheese poking out between the beef patty.

The Wendy’s Krabby Patty Kollab Burger comes with a quarter-pound fresh beef patty, two slices of American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, and a Krabby Kollab sauce on what the chain calls a “toasted premium” bun.

The burger was practically drenched in sauce, which resembled a Thousand Island or Big Mac signature sauce.

It really tasted like any other Wendy’s burger, with the addition of a Thousand Island-style sauce. However, I couldn’t help but eat the whole thing in minutes.

The lettuce and tomato tasted fresh, and the thick-cut pickles had the perfect amount of crunch. I was also blown away by the special sauce, which was tangy and perfectly complemented the meat and slices of melted cheese.

A sesame-seed bun might have added even more flavor and texture to each bite — as well as authenticity to the burger it was inspired by —but I didn’t mind.

The fries were well-salted and fluffy. I thought they were a nice addition to the meal, but again lacked creativity.

I felt like there was more that could have been done to really embody the “under the sea” theme, such as sprinkling the fries with Old Bay seasoning or seaweed flakes.

The Frosty is made with Wendy’s signature vanilla flavor plus a pineapple-and-mango-flavored puree swirl. The puree was mostly at the bottom of the Frosty but was mixed a little throughout as well.

The Frosty was absolutely delicious. It added the perfect amount of sweetness to the meal. The fruity flavor balanced out the savoriness of the burger and the saltiness of the fries. I was impressed.

This is the first time Wendy’s has innovated its Frosty flavors in this way, and I hope the chain continues to expand on adding flavors and different purées to its regular Frosty lineup.

When it comes to fast-food collaborations I’ve tried in the past, the most impressive were when chains got creative and gave fans all-new menu items with limited-edition branding and packaging, such as McDonald’s and BTS’ signature sauces or Burger King’s newest Wednesday Addams-inspired Whopper with a purple bun.

Collaborations can be big business drivers for fast-food chains. The New York Times reported that after McDonald’s began launching celebrity meal collaborations in September 2020, downloads of the McDonald’s app increased by 10 million, which the publication called a “significant jump.”

McDonald’s named its BTS meal, which launched in May 2021, among the reasons for a more than 25% increase in sales in Q3 of 2021, and its success suggests that engaging with celebrity fandoms, especially those that resonate with Gen Z or millennials, can mean big business for brands.

By comparison, the Wendy’s meal didn’t feel specific enough to a show like “SpongeBob,” which has a devoted community of fans. While I enjoyed the food, I can understand why a standard meal with no signature branding was such a letdown for those fans.

Sure, SpongeBob lives in a pineapple, so a pineapple-flavored Frosty makes sense. But is that enough to make this meal feel tied to the show?

I left Wendy’s feeling like the answer was “no,” even though I’d go back for the limited-edition Frosty and saucy burger, “SpongeBob” connection aside.

Nostalgia alone can’t make a fast-food collaboration worthwhile for fans. The meal needs to be just as creative as the celebrity or pop-culture icon it’s inspired by.

Wendy’s did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.