Wendy's is a chain of fast-food restaurants founded by the late Dave Thomas and now owned by the United States corporation, Wendy's International, Inc. The first Wendy's restaurant was opened in Columbus, Ohio on November 15, 1969, and grew rapidly to open over 3,000 stores by 1985. The restaurant chain purportedly was named after Dave Thomas's daughter, and is characterized by slightly higher quality (and prices) than competing fast food restaurants. The corporate headquarters is located in Dublin, Ohio.

Starting on January 9, 1984, elderly actress Clara Peller was featured in the successful "Where's the Beef?" North American commercial campaign for Wendy's. Her famous line quickly entered the American pop culture (it was even used to devastating effect by Walter Mondale in defeating Gary Hart in the Democratic primary election) and served to promote Wendy's high-quality, yet oddly square-shaped hamburgers. The square shape allows the corners to stick out from the bun. The combination of this shape and the size of the patties makes the presence of the beef more apparent than that of the round, thin hamburgers of other chains. They are also famous for their Frosty dairy desserts.

Wendy's uses some inventive techniques to save on costs. For example, when beef is not fresh enough for hamburgers but still healthy, they mix it into their chili instead of letting it spoil.

Wendy's has a value menu consisting of items that cost $1.79 or lower. It includes chili, Frostys, salads, Junior Bacon Cheesburgers (JBCs for short), and other items.

In 2004, Wendy's began to deviate from the industry standard inclusion of French fries with value meals. Customers now have the option of choosing fries, chili, a baked potato, side salad, or caesar side salad to come with their meal.

On March 22, 2005, a woman in a San Jose, California Wendy's (Anna Ayala) found an amputated human finger in her chili and sued the restaurant. After an investigation by the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office and San Jose Police Department, it was determined the finger did not come from a Wendy's employee, or from any employee at the facilities that provided ingredients in the chili. The police have investigated the woman's home in Las Vegas, Nevada in relation to the case, but what, if anything, was found has not been disclosed. Although early reports indicated the finger had been cooked to 170 F, Wendy's now claims the finger was not cooked. Later, it was also discovered the woman had filed numerous lawsuits against various retail establishments in recent years, adding another level of mystery to the case. [1]

Slogans

• 1984: "Where's the Beef?"
• 2004: "It's better here"

External link

• Official web site