Wendy's and Dave Thomas
Square patties and the first pick-up window. Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy's in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969. Square fresh-beef patties, the Frosty, the pick-up window and Where's the Beef.
Wendy's in Columbus, Ohio: Ɱ, CC BY-SA 4.0
A founder who knew the business
Dave Thomas started working in restaurants as a teenager. In the 1960s he helped turn around struggling Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises in Columbus, Ohio, working with Colonel Sanders himself, and earned enough to start his own hamburger restaurant.
He opened the first Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers in downtown Columbus on November 15, 1969, naming it after his daughter Melinda Lou, whose nickname was Wendy.
Square burgers and a cold dessert
Wendy's patties are square so the edges stick out of the round bun, a visual way of saying the beef is generous. The chain promoted fresh, never frozen beef in North America. The Frosty, a thick frozen dairy dessert somewhere between a shake and soft serve, was on the very first menu.
In 1970 Wendy's opened one of the first modern pick-up windows, an early form of the drive-thru that the whole industry later copied.
Where's the Beef?
In 1984 Wendy's ran a TV commercial in which actress Clara Peller peers at a huge bun with a tiny patty and demands to know where the beef is. The line became a national catchphrase and boosted the chain's sales. Dave Thomas later appeared in hundreds of Wendy's ads himself, becoming one of the most familiar faces on American TV.
Legacy beyond burgers
Thomas was adopted as a baby, and in 1992 he started the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which helps children in foster care find permanent families. He died in 2002. The original Columbus restaurant closed in 2007, and Wendy's is now one of the largest burger chains in the world, known online for its playful social media voice.
Menu guide
Wendy's core menu is built around Dave's Single, Double and Triple burgers, spicy and classic chicken sandwiches, natural-cut fries with sea salt, baked potatoes in many markets and the Frosty in chocolate and vanilla. Dipping fries into a Frosty is a popular sweet and salty habit. Wendy's also became known for its chili, which uses cooked patties that were not served on time, an early anti-waste idea.
Did you know? Wendy's was one of the first big chains to offer a salad bar nationwide, in 1979, and its baked potato was an early alternative to fries.
- Wendy's in Columbus, Ohio: Ɱ, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text written by Fast Food Run.
