The Story of The Fast Food Chain Wendy's

The Complete Story of Wendy’s

How a high school dropout went from one to more than 6,000 Locations – It was at 257 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio, on November 15, 1969: Wendy’s restaurant was established. Little did Dave Thomas, know that his startup would grow to be the third-largest hamburger chain in the United States.

It’s widely known Dave Thomas named his restaurant after his daughter Melinda. His dream started as one location in Columbus, Ohio, to a second location in the same state, to 500 locations in the United States in just seven years.

Some Interesting Facts about Wendy’s Include:

In 1970, the “Pickup Window” Was Born

Today’s drive-through — a convenient way to get a fast-food order or beverage that is widely used by millions of people — can be credited to Wendy’s, since it was the first to introduce the modern drive-through.

In 1976, Wendy’s Goes Public

Wendy’s stock is traded on the NASDAQ. The company issued one million shares in September of 1976. You could buy a share at twenty-eight dollars, which is equivalent to $126.75 in 2020. Another way of looking at it — in 1976, the company raised $28 million for its IPO, equivalent to $126 million in 2020

In 1977, the First Wendy’s Commercial Aired

Some of Wendy’s early commercials that are still remembered today. They are the ones with the tagline “Where’s the Beef?” — meaning you get more meat with a Wendy’s hamburger. Over the years, Dave Thomas appeared in over 800 Wendy’s commercials.

In 1979, the First Salad Bar Is Introduced to the Fast Food Industry

Previously, the salad bar was available in many restaurants, but never in the fast-food industry until 1979, when Wendy’s gave it a try. It lasted for 27 years and was phased out in 2006.

1994 – It’s been 25 Years

A multi-billion-dollar birthday gift when wendy’s turned 25, in 1994. The company had sales of $4.2 billion dollars. Do you think Dave ever anticipated this when he started his first restaurant?

2001 Consistent growth

Wendy’s grew to more than 6,000 locations.

For the complete story of Wendy’s, including financials, the story behind Dave Thomas, and the humble beginning of the fast-food chain, have a look at the sections below offering resources from a variety of people that have written about this success story.

Resources

The Latest about Wendy’s

In this section, you’ll be able to stay up to date on the latest information related to Wendy’s, including the latest news, Google searches, videos, what people are tweeting, and more.