Wendy’s hamburgers were advertised as ‘old fashioned’ at a time of growing nostalgia for the American past, and the chain was named for Thomas ‘s daughter, Wendy, always a deft marketing touch in a culture revering family and children.
Although Thomas offered a streamlined menu similar to those of the major chains, he grilling each burger to order and serving it with the precise condiments selected by customer.
When he first launched Wendy’s, Dave had no intention of beginning a huge fast food chain. A new partner Robert Barney, an experience fast food executive convinced Thomas, that he could started a successful chain.
More Wendy’s appeared in the surrounding areas, even expanding out of state in 1972 when the partners built a company owned Wendy’s in Indianapolis.
The first franchised Wendy’s opened in Marion, Ohio, in March 1972. Selling franchises to eager investors for $200,000 each, he had blanketed the United States with more than one thousand Wendy’s by 1976.
In 1976, Wendy’s 407 units earned $26,000,000, a 90 percent increase over the previous year, and due to American saturated hamburger market, joined its competitors in opening in Europe and Asia.
In the same year Thomas took Wendy’s public, offering one million shares of stock, each at an initial price of twenty-eight dollars. Thomas retired in 1982.
History of Wendy’s Restaurant
