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23 things you didn’t know about Wendy’s

We’re guessing you’ve eaten at Wendy’s before. You’ve likely had their square hamburgers, frozen Frosty treats, and maybe even their signature chili or baked potatoes. But how much do you really know about this longtime fast food chain and its famous founder? Here are 23 things you didn’t know about Wendy’s.

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Wendy’s was founded in 1969

The Wendy’s Company via YouTube

Wendy isn’t just a made-up fast food mascot — there really was an actual Wendy! Founder Dave Thomas named the restaurant after his daughter, Melinda Lou "Wendy" Thomas-Morse. Her likeness was also used for the red-pigtailed Wendy character, she has appeared in numerous commercials, and she and her siblings still own dozens of Wendy’s restaurants across the country.

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Dave Thomas was an early supporter of KFC

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Before becoming a famous fast food spokesperson, Dave Thomas advised another future spokesman: Col. Harland Sanders. In the 1950s, Sanders was searching for potential Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisees when he met Thomas, who was then working at a Fort Wayne, Indiana, restaurant called the Hobby House. After the Hobby House signed on with KFC, Thomas helped Sanders build his brand with recommendations like a smaller menu, serving chicken in a red-and-white bucket, and having Sanders personally appear in commercials. Thomas eventually sold his KFC shares back to the Colonel for $1.5 million and departed the company with enough money and knowledge to start his own chain.

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A famous Celtic was an early supporter of Wendy’s

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Most people will remember the late John Havlicek as a lifelong Boston Celtics forward who won eight championships and earned 13 all-star selections on his way to an eventual Basketball Hall of Fame induction. However, he was also critical to the success of another franchise: Wendy’s. As an Ohio State University alum, Havlicek was an early investor in the Columbus-based restaurant chain; he owned three locations and used the resulting revenue to retire as a millionaire. 

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They pioneered the drive-thru window

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Wendy’s didn’t invent the drive-thru, and they weren’t the first fast food chain to use one, but they get credit for pioneering the concept because they were the first to install drive-thru windows at every one of their locations. The first Wendy’s drive-thru, which Dave Thomas called the “pick-up window,” was introduced in 1971. It was still a new concept to many customers, some of whom needed to be given instructions on how to order.

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At first, there were only five menu items

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Wendy’s was a model of simplicity at first. When they opened in 1969, the fast food franchise offered just five items, all of which are still on the menu today: hamburgers, fries, chili, soft drinks, and the now-famous Frosty dessert. 

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There’s a strategy behind the square patties

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Dave Thomas used to say his burger patties are square because Wendy’s doesn’t cut corners, but there was a real reason behind the shape. From the beginning, Wendy’s wanted to differentiate itself from the competition by emphasizing the size and quality of its burgers, so Dave used square patties to make them more visible and less likely to be obscured by a bun. 

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They weren’t the first squares in the business

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Dave Thomas also had some additional inspiration for the square patties: he grew up near a Kewpee Hamburgers restaurant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and was a huge fan of their square burgers and thick milkshakes. (Fun fact: Founded in 1923, Kewpee is the second-oldest burger chain after White Castle, which also used square burgers.) Although chains like McDonald’s and Burger King retailed round patties, Thomas opted for the square-shaped burgers of his childhood.

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Every chocolate Frosty includes vanilla ice cream

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Even folks who aren’t huge fans of chocolate can enjoy a Frosty from time to time, as they don’t have an overwhelmingly strong chocolate flavor. That’s because instead of being made from a chocolate ice cream base, a Frosty actually combines both chocolate and vanilla ice creams to achieve its signature taste. The Frosty, by the way, was conceived by Dave himself.

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300 million Frostys are sold every year

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The Frosty isn’t a forgotten offering at Wendy’s — people consistently order them year after year. In fact, about 300 million Frostys are sold annually, which is an impressive accomplishment for a fast-food dessert.

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Wendy’s was the first to introduce a value menu

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People often associate fast food value menus with the McDonald’s dollar menu, but believe it or not, that didn’t make its debut until 2002. Burger King first rolled their value menu out in the late ‘90s, but Wendy’s was the first way back in 1989. All seven items on the “Super Value Menu” cost 99 cents, including a junior bacon cheeseburger, a baked potato, and a small Frosty.

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They used to have a salad bar

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Does anyone else remember that Wendy’s used to offer a salad bar? If you were born in the ‘90s or later, you probably don’t. While most fast food chains tried to get customers in and out as quickly as possible, Wendy’s introduced a healthier option in the form of a salad bar more than 40 years ago — and it was actually a huge hit in the ‘80s! Some of the bars stuck around, but they were completely phased out in the early 2000s in favor of pre-assembled salads.

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The “Where’s the Beef?” lady wasn’t a professional actress

The Wendy?s Company via YouTube

Clara Peller became Wendy’s most famous spokesperson not named Dave Thomas, but she wasn’t a lifelong actress. Peller was working as a manicurist for a different commercial when an acting agency noticed her unique personality and appearance and asked her to sign with them. When she was cast in a 1984 Wendy’s commercial as a frustrated customer of the fictitious “Big Bun” burger restaurant and first uttered the phrase, “Where’s the beef?!” she was already 81 years old!

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“Where’s the Beef?” was more popular than you remember

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If you lived through the mid-’80s, you may recall that “Where’s the beef?” became an incredibly popular catchphrase. (It also increased Wendy’s sales by more than 30%.) In addition to numerous commercials, it also appeared on t-shirts, stickers, frisbees, and other promotional items — including a board game from Milton Bradley! A popular Nashville radio DJ even recorded a song with Clara Peller called “Where’s the beef?” Despite Peller getting fired by Wendy’s in 1985 and passing away in 1987, variations of her catchphrase are still used in promotions to this day.

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Campbell’s Soup got Clara Peller fired

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Clara Peller was free to appear as a spokesperson for other brands as long as they weren’t competitors of Wendy’s. However, after appearing in a commercial for Prego Pasta Plus (owned by the Campbell Soup Company), she was fired by Wendy’s. The commercial featured her asking “Where’s the beef?” and then declaring, “I found it! I really found it!” Wendy’s claimed this implied she found the beef elsewhere and thus violated the terms of her contract. Peller continued to find work after the fallout, appearing in numerous movies and TV shows. She was even a guest referee at WrestleMania 2!

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Dave Thomas appeared in hundreds of commercials

The Wendy’s Company via YouTube

The red-headed Wendy’s character is instantly recognizable and Clara Peller got a lot of attention in the ‘80s, but Dave Thomas remains the most popular figure in Wendy’s television history. Between the chain’s founding in 1969 and Thomas’ death in 2002, he appeared in more than 800 commercials!

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Dave Thomas was a high school dropout

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When Dave passed away in 2002, he was worth an estimated $4.2 billion — not bad for a guy who dropped out of high school! Thomas quit high school when he was 15 to work in a restaurant full-time, a decision he later referred to as the biggest mistake of his life. To inspire future generations, he eventually earned his GED from Coconut Creek High School in 1993 at the age of 61. His classmates elected him and his wife prom king and queen, and they gave him a fitting superlative, too: Most Likely to Succeed.

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Wendy’s broke up the Violent Femmes

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As the singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the alt-rock band the Violent Femmes, Gordon Gano was well within his rights to allow Wendy’s to use the band’s hit “Blister in the Sun” in a 2007 commercial. Nevertheless, it angered some of the other band members, including bassist Brian Ritchie, who sued Gano for half ownership of the group’s music and royalties. As a result of the lawsuit, the band broke up in 2009…but thankfully settled their differences and reunited in 2013. 

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Wendy’s has its own charitable foundation

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You may have heard of the Ronald McDonald House Charities or the Burger King or Taco Bell Foundations, but Wendy’s has its own unique charity, too. While BK and T-Bell focus on scholarships, Wendy’s goes a different direction with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a non-profit that matches children in foster care with loving families. This was an especially important cause to Thomas because he was adopted as an infant and never knew his birth parents.

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The word “mom” is included in the new Wendy’s logo…or is it?

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When Wendy’s revamped their logo in 2012, some eagle-eyed supporters noticed the word “mom” was subliminally spelled in Wendy’s collar…or so it seemed. According to the senior vice president of communications at Wendy’s, the word’s inclusion was entirely unintentional. This makes sense when you consider Dave Thomas didn’t know his birth mom, his adopted mother died when he was just five years old, and it was actually Dave’s grandmother who he credits with teaching him important lessons about service, quality, and always doing the right thing — values he later brought to his company.

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Wendy’s has had some strange menu items in Japan

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Have you ever had a foie gras burger? How about an avocado and wasabi burger? Maybe a chicken sandwich with a truffle and porcini mushroom sauce, or a lobster and caviar sandwich? All things have been possible at Wendy’s…if you visited one of their Japanese locations. After exiting the country completely in 2009, Wendy’s returned in 2011 with 100 new locations — and some inventive items meant to appeal to the tastebuds of the country’s locals.

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Their Twitter account is SAVAGE

Twitter

Wendy’s has a Twitter account and it’s absolutely savage. As the bio states: “We like our tweets the way we like our fries: hot, crispy, and better than anyone expects from a fast food restaurant.” They live up to that claim by constantly firing off witty tweets and routinely roasting other users, including on a holiday they have dubbed #NationalRoastDay. No wonder they have 4 million followers!

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They’ve stuck to one slogan

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p dir=”ltr”>Sure, slogans like “Where’s the Beef?” and “Wendy’s Has the Taste” have come and gone over the years, but the company has always returned to its original catchphrase. From the beginning, Dave Thomas wanted to boast about the fresh, high-caliber meat that makes up their burgers, so he coined the slogan: “Quality is our recipe.” You’ll still see those exact words in commercials, on packaging, and plastered across their buildings.