Wendy's

• 1. Introduction

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  Wendy's is an American fast food chain that serves square hamburger patties on round buns. As of the 2nd of November 2023, it counted 7,166 outlets. Most of them are in the United States. The rest are scattered across places as different as Aruba, Uzbekistan and Guam.

  Few restaurants have a record of arrivals and departures as restless as this one. The chain has opened in a country, left it, and come back more than once. Behind that pattern sit several questions. Why a square patty? Who is the Wendy on the sign? And why would a chain pull out of a place where business was going well?

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• 2. A Daughter's Name

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  Kewpee Hamburgers, a restaurant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, sold square hamburgers and thick malt shakes. Dave Thomas grew up in that town, and Kewpee's burgers became the model for his own.

  On the 15th of November 1969, Thomas opened the first Wendy's in Columbus, Ohio. His patties had corners that stuck out past the edge of the round bun. That gave customers the impression of plentiful meat. Among his earliest investors was John Havlicek, a basketball star and Ohio State University alumnus.

  Thomas named the restaurant for his fourth child, Melinda Lou, who went by Wendy. He later wrote that he regretted the choice. Once the business grew into a fast food empire, she "lost some of her privacy". Many people assumed she was the official company spokesperson.

  The Columbus original later added a Tim Hortons. It closed on the 2nd of March 2007, after 38 years of business, because sales had declined. Long before that closing, in August 1972, the first franchisee, L.S. Hartzog, signed an agreement for Indianapolis, Indiana.

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• 3. Crossing Borders

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  Hamilton, Ontario, got the first Wendy's outside the United States, in 1976. That December the chain opened its 500th restaurant, in Toronto. By March 1978 it had reached 1000, with the milestone store in Springfield, Tennessee. In 1978 the company also founded a fried chicken chain, Sisters Chicken & Biscuits. It sold that chain to its largest franchisee in 1987.

  In 1979 the first European Wendy's opened in Munich, West Germany. Asia followed. Japan came in 1980, Hong Kong in 1982, the Philippines and Singapore in 1983, and South Korea in 1984. Closer to home, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago joined in 1978, and the Bahamas in 1983.

  In 1989 Wendy's opened a restaurant at Syntagma Square in Athens. It became the first foreign fast-food chain in Greece. From 1988 to 1990 the company also reached New Zealand, Indonesia and Turkey, plus the U.S. Naval Base in Naples, Italy.

  Not every arrival lasted. By the chain's own list, its Turkish run covered only the years 1988 to 1990.

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• 4. Arrivals and Exits

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  A slowdown in the chain's performance in 1986 pushed Wendy's to make sure its stores met the required standards. It also closed all its outlets in Hong Kong that year, and in Singapore the following year. In Australia, where the chain had opened in the 1970s, Hungry Jack's had bought almost all the stores by 1986. Hungry Jack's is the Australian franchisee of Burger King.

  The exit from Greece in 2002 is the most striking. The company had opened 12 restaurants in 3 cities, and the business was very successful and profitable. Differences with the local franchisee ended it anyway.

  In 1996 Wendy's opened 18 local restaurants in Argentina. An economic crisis in the country closed every one of them within four years. In 1998 the company closed all 15 of its South Korean restaurants. In 2000 it also left the UK, Argentina and Hong Kong.

  Russia in 2011 was meant to be a long project, with plans for 180 restaurants over 10 years. Only three years later, in 2014, every Russian restaurant had closed. Singapore went a similar way. A franchise agreement in 2009 brought the chain back, but in April 2015 it again closed all its restaurants there.

  The returns began in 2011, when Wendy's went back to Japan and Argentina. Japan now has a co-branded version called Wendy's First Kitchen.

  In October 2019, Wendy's announced a return to the UK. The plan called for 20 restaurants, with the first expected in Stoke-on-Trent in 2020. Reading, Berkshire, got the first one instead, opening on the 2nd of June 2021. The first UK drive-thru followed in Colchester in July 2023.

  On the 13th of May 2021, Wendy's opened a pop-up store for a single day in The Rocks, in central Sydney. In 2023 it announced a full return to Australia, with hundreds of locations set to open. A trademark problem loomed. A different outlet called Wendy's Milk Bar, open since 1979, already owned the name. In January 2025 the chain opened its first Australian store in Surfers Paradise.

  Georgia saw its first Wendy's in 2013, the first in the Caucasus. The company also made a deal to open 25 restaurants across Georgia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. In May 2015 Wendy's announced its entry into India, with the first outlet in Gurgaon. Uzbekistan followed in 2019 as the first location in Central Asia.

  In July 2024 an agreement with franchisees in the Republic of Ireland called for 30 new restaurants over the following 10 years. A few days later came news of the first five restaurants in Romania, scheduled for 2025. Their franchisor, JKC Capital, runs 61 Wendy's restaurants in Canada. It plans to invest $200 million in Romania over the next decade.

  Italy is the next name on the company's list of future locations, planned for 2026.

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• 5. The Franchise Machine

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  In November 2023, 415 Wendy's outlets were company-owned and 6,751 were franchised. The company sets the standards for its stores. Owners control opening hours, decor, and staff uniforms and pay.

  On the 29th of January 2006, the headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio. On the 29th of September 2008, Wendy's merged with Triarc Companies Inc., the publicly traded parent company of Arby's. By the 31st of December 2018, it was the world's third-largest hamburger fast-food chain, behind McDonald's and Burger King.

  Selling restaurants to franchisees became a recurring move. In 1995 the company sold its 35 Arkansas locations to Fourjay, LLC. In June 2012 it bought 30 franchised locations in Austin, Texas, from Dave and Jason Near, two sons of former CEO James W. Near. It sold them to Haza Foods in December 2013. In August 2012 it also bought 24 franchised restaurants in Albuquerque.

  The pace picked up in 2013. In October, Wendy's sold its 24 Seattle locations to longtime franchisee Cedar Enterprises. In November, it sold 54 Salt Lake City locations to NPC International. In February 2014, it sold 70 company-owned restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to MUY Hamburger Partners. In September 2016, JAE Restaurant Group acquired 97 restaurants in South Florida.

  In 2017 the company sold 540 of its restaurants. That divestiture was the second step in a three-step plan to improve the brand. The other steps were new openings and remodeling. In 2015 the brand had opened 80 new restaurants and remodeled 450 existing ones. Its goal was to remodel at least 60% of its North American locations by 2020. In December 2017 Wendy's announced a delivery partnership with DoorDash in the United States.

  Franchisees carry risks of their own. In January 2021, after the bankruptcy of franchisee NPC Quality Burgers Inc., Flynn Restaurant agreed to buy half of NPC's outlets.

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• 6. Menu Choices

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  Two patty sizes anchor the Wendy's menu. The Junior weighs 1.78 ounces and the Single weighs 4 ounces. The 4-ounce patty is sold in single, double and triple versions, and the Junior in single and double. In 2007 the Junior shrank from 2 ounces, a change made to save money. Square patties let more fit on one grill than round ones.

  The spicy chicken sandwich began as a promotion. In 1996 it joined the menu full-time because of its popularity and ease of preparation. In 1988 Wendy's became the first fast-food chain to create a value menu with a single price point, 99 cents for every item. A 2007 revision let prices range from 99 cents to $2.00.

  That same year, 1988, the salad bar grew into a full buffet called the Superbar, priced at $2.99. It was popular but hard to maintain, and it ended in 1998. Garden Sensations salads arrived in 2002.

  Baked potatoes were added in 1983 as a lower-fat alternative to French fries. No other major fast food chain offers them. Chili has been on the menu since the first restaurant opened. Cooked patties that are not sold promptly get chopped up and go into the pot. The Frosty is a frozen dairy dessert that Thomas created at his first restaurant. He blended chocolate and vanilla ice cream and wanted it thick enough to require a spoon.

  In late 2011, Wendy's reworked its Single, Double and Triple burgers into the Dave's Hot 'N Juicy line. The patty was thicker, and its square edges were rounded off slightly. Red onions replaced white ones, and mustard left the condiment list. In 2016 the line was renamed simply Dave's and moved to bakery-style buns.

  The Triple Baconator carries 1360 calories, with three quarter-pound patties and nine strips of bacon. The Ciabatta Bacon Cheeseburger, introduced in January 2014, sold for $4.79 in the United States. It was part of a push to position Wendy's as a premium chain, and the company called it a limited-time product. Syndicated columnist Ken Hoffman called it "another winner". The Phoenix New Times called it "one of the better burgers in the entire fast-food industry." At the Sioux City Journal, only two of four taste testers would try it a second time.

  A black bean burger, built on beans, wild rice, farro and quinoa, was still in testing in Salt Lake City, Columbus and Columbia, South Carolina. The Big Classic, a rival to the Burger King Whopper, is no longer sold in U.S. stores. The Biggie Bag value meal debuted in March 2019, returned in April 2022, and went nationwide in September 2022.

  Breakfast began in 1985 and proved unsuccessful. In mid-2007 Wendy's tried again in its U.S. and some Canadian locations. The new menu was designed for ease of operation, lower cost and shorter preparation time. Still, Wendy's had no company-wide breakfast until 2020. That menu, announced in September 2019, included 19 items, among them a breakfast Baconator and a Frosty-inspired coffee drink. In February 2024 a partnership with Cinnabon brought a cinnamon roll-style baked good.

  Also in February 2024, the company announced it would explore dynamic pricing in early 2025. Under that plan, menu prices would shift through the day with timing and restaurant activity. AMC Entertainment and Uber had tried similar moves. The reaction was largely negative, and later that month Wendy's decided against the plan. It chose to emphasize the discounts it already offered.

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• 7. Where's the Beef

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  Starting on the 9th of January 1984, the elderly actress Clara Peller appeared in a North American campaign written by Cliff Freeman. Her line was "Where's the beef?" The campaign arrived after sales had flattened. The line entered American pop culture so thoroughly that Walter Mondale used it in a debate with Gary Hart during the Democratic primary election.

  In 1985, Peller, then age 83, was dropped from the campaign. She had appeared in a commercial for Prego spaghetti sauce and said, "I found it, I really found it." Dave Thomas took her place. Soft-spoken and bashful, he mostly praised his products and promised quality service, with the occasional wackier spot. He ultimately appeared in more than 800 commercials, more than any other company founder in television history.

  After Thomas died in 2002, Wendy's struggled to find a new campaign. In 2004 it tried a character called "Mr. Wendy" who claimed to be the unofficial spokesperson. The ads were extremely unsuccessful. After seven months, the company returned to an animated campaign about the difference between its square burgers and its competitors' round ones.

  A 2007 Wendy's commercial used the tune of the Violent Femmes song "Blister in the Sun." The placement set off an internal conflict in the band. It led to a lawsuit between bassist Brian Ritchie and lead singer Gordon Gano, and the band disbanded in 2009. It reunited in 2013.

  The "That's right" campaign did not succeed. In late January 2008, an animated version of the mascot, voiced by Shanelle Workman, took over. The U.S. slogan was "It's waaaay better than fast food. It's Wendy's." In Canada it was "It's waaaay delicious. It's Wendy's." In November 2010, a series of commercials featured Wendy Thomas herself, her first appearance in a Wendy's advertisement. In April 2012, Morgan Smith began appearing as the redhead in ads with the slogan "Now that's better." In 2013, social media ads with Nick Lachey promoted the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger to millennials.

  Some slogans have lasted far longer than others. "Quality Is Our Recipe" has been on the list since 1970, and "It's good to be square" since 2005. Between 1987 and 1993, a campaign built on the phrase "Give a little nibble" flopped. The spots, created by Dick Rich Inc., showed customers ripping chunks of meat off an absurdly large hamburger. Wendy's pulled them after a poorly received seven-week run. In 2023 the chain adopted "Square's the beef".

  On the 23rd of March 2018, Wendy's released an EP titled We Beefin?, a reference to the 1984 slogan. On the 3rd of October 2019, it released a tabletop role-playing game in the style of Dungeons & Dragons, called Feast of Legends: Rise From the Deep Freeze. In its adventure, Wendy's kingdom faces the Ice Jester, a parody of Ronald McDonald. Critical Role sponsored a special live stream of the game. Wendy's also uses product placement, and on the reality show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition it serves food to the more than 100 construction workers.

  In the early 2020s, the company's official Twitter account, now X, gained attention for sarcastic tweets and clever insults aimed at other brands. It became a case study in social media advertising and engagement.

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• 8. Scrutiny and Setbacks

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  In late August 2022-97 people reported getting sick after eating sandwiches containing romaine lettuce at Wendy's restaurants. The restaurants were in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Kentucky. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention never officially identified the specific source of the E. coli outbreak. Wendy's removed romaine lettuce from the affected restaurants. In October 2022, the CDC declared the outbreak over, with at least 109 people affected. Of those, 52 were admitted to hospitals and 13 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome. Earlier, in 2015, two food safety incidents involving foreign objects in food had occurred at restaurants in Gurgaon, India.

  The Fair Food Program, an agricultural worker protection partnership, was established in 2011. Wendy's has faced protests and boycotts from its advocates because the company refused to join. In 2016, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers began a nationwide boycott to pressure Wendy's, supported by the Student/Farmworker Alliance. A key feature of the programs that preceded it was a small premium from buyers, such as one penny per pound of tomatoes, passed on to field workers. Wendy's responded that from 2019 it bought tomatoes only from growers using hydroponics and greenhouses. Its policy requires third-party reviews of farm labor practices.

  In 2016, Wendy's pledged to move to 100% cage-free eggs by 2020 at locations serving breakfast. It has met that goal for the locations that served breakfast in 2016, but has made no progress at its other locations. As of 2024, about 9% of its eggs were cage-free. That figure has prompted shareholders and nonprofits to demand an updated commitment.

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