{"id":46240,"date":"2022-06-11T14:34:05","date_gmt":"2022-06-11T14:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wendys-founder-dave-thomas-named-the-chain-after-his-daughter-heres-why-he-regretted-it\/"},"modified":"2022-06-11T14:34:05","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T14:34:05","slug":"wendys-founder-dave-thomas-named-the-chain-after-his-daughter-heres-why-he-regretted-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wendys-founder-dave-thomas-named-the-chain-after-his-daughter-heres-why-he-regretted-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Wendy&#8217;s founder Dave Thomas named the chain after his daughter.  Here&#8217;s why he regretted it."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dave Thomas, a successful Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise owner in Columbus, Ohio, and a protege of founder Colonel Harlan Sanders, was struggling in 1969 to find a name for a new hamburger concept he hoped to open. <\/p>\n<p>The fast-food burger market was becoming saturated, but Thomas believed there was an opening to target wealthier young adults &#8211; the Baby Boomer generation &#8211; who weren&#8217;t satisfied with burger chains geared to children.  These customers, he believed, craved fresh beef and their own choice of toppings and would be willing to pay higher prices for a better-quality burger.  <\/p>\n<p>Thomas wanted to name the restaurant after one of his five children and turn it into a family business.  But none of his kids&#8217; names fit the nostalgic, family-values \u200b\u200bpersona he wanted to create for the business.<\/p>\n<p>From his tutelage under Sanders at KFC, Thomas had learned the value of using a mascot to create an emotional connection with customers and a &#8220;personal identity tied to the restaurant,&#8221; he said in his 1991 autobiography &#8220;Dave&#8217;s Way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>He found what he believed to be the perfect name and mascot in his fourth child&#8217;s nickname.<\/p>\n<p>Melinda Lou, Thomas&#8217; eight-year-old daughter, was nicknamed Wenda when she was born because her siblings couldn&#8217;t pronounce her name.  Soon after, her family di lei started calling her Wendy.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas told his daughter one day at home to pull her hair up in pigtails and took pictures with his camera.  She wore a blue-and-white-striped dress sewed by her mother di lei for the photos of lei that would eventually turn her into a fast food mascot recognized around the world.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To me, nothing would be a more appealing advertisement than showing a little girl, smiling and rosy-cheeked&#8221; enjoying one of his hamburger&#8217;s, Thomas said.  &#8220;Her cleanly-scrubbed, freckled face di lei was it. I knew that was the name and image for the business.&#8221; <\/p>\n<div class=\"el__embedded el__embedded--fullwidth\">\n<div class=\"el__image--fullwidth js__image--fullwidth\">\n<div><noscript><img alt=\"Melinda Lou &#038; quot; Wendy &#038; quot;  Thomas.  Dave Thomas said he regretted naming the chain after his daughter di lui.\" class=\"media__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112259-dave-thomas-daughter-melinda-lou-wendys-file-large-169.jpg?ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_0791098F-9FDC-8B7F-7654-4A1174D887A4\">The full name he chose &#8211; &#8220;Wendy&#8217;s Old Fashioned Hamburgers&#8221; &#8211; evoked nostalgia, and his choice of a young child to serve as a brand character was a long tradition in American branding.  Jell-O, Morton Salt, Sun-Maid and others used girls and boys as brand mascots.  <\/div>\n<p>But Thomas later regretted his decision to name what would become a fast-food empire after his daughter, believing it put too much attention and pressure on her.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s lost some of her privacy,&#8221; he said in his autobiography.  &#8220;Because some people still take her di lei for the official company spokesperson, sometimes she hedges speaking her mind di lei. I don&#8217;t blame her.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_EF0EA74D-CDF4-F6B4-6E12-4A0D28CCAFCA\">Before Thomas died in 2002, he apologized to his daughter for naming the restaurant after her.<\/div>\n<p>Thomas told her, &#8220;I should&#8217;ve just named it after myself, because it put a lot of pressure on you,&#8221; Wendy Thomas-Morse, who later became a Wendy&#8217;s franchisee, recalled in a blog post for the chain&#8217;s 50th anniversary in 2019 . <\/p>\n<p><h3>&#8216;Where&#8217;s The Beef?&#8217;<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>The first Wendy&#8217;s restaurant opened in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in 1969. <\/p>\n<p>It had an upscale overtone, with carpeting, Tiffany lamps, hanging beads and bentwood chairs.  Workers all wore white aprons, with men in white pants, a white shirt and a black bow tie and women in white dresses and scarves.  This gave &#8220;the feel of cleanliness and tradition,&#8221; Thomas said.  Wendy&#8217;s burgers were double the price of rival chains.<\/p>\n<p>Baby Boomers with disposable income would grow to become Wendy&#8217;s core customers, and Wendy&#8217;s later added salad bars, baked potatoes, stuffed pitas and other foods to cater to them.<\/p>\n<p>By the mid-1970s, 82% of Wendy&#8217;s customers were older than 25, &#8220;contrasting markedly with all competitors,&#8221; wrote John Jakle and Keith Sculle in their 1999 book &#8220;Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Within a decade, there were more than 1,000 Wendy&#8217;s around the United States. <\/p>\n<div class=\"el__embedded el__embedded--fullwidth\">\n<div class=\"el__image--fullwidth js__image--fullwidth\">\n<div><img class=\"media__image media__image--responsive\" alt=\"The first &#038; quot; Wendy &#038; # 39; s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers &#038; quot;  in Columbus, Ohio. \" src-mini=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112523-first-wendys-restaurant-downtown-columbus-oh-file-small-169.jpg\" src-xsmall=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112523-first-wendys-restaurant-downtown-columbus-oh-file-medium-plus-169.jpg\" src-small=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112523-first-wendys-restaurant-downtown-columbus-oh-file-large-169.jpg\" src-medium=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112523-first-wendys-restaurant-downtown-columbus-oh-file-exlarge-169.jpg\" src-large=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112523-first-wendys-restaurant-downtown-columbus-oh-file-super-169.jpg\" src-full16x9=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112523-first-wendys-restaurant-downtown-columbus-oh-file-full-169.jpg\" src-mini1x1=\"\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112523-first-wendys-restaurant-downtown-columbus-oh-file-small-11.jpg\" data-demand-load=\"not-loaded\" data-eq-pts=\"mini: 0, xsmall: 221, small: 308, medium: 461, large: 781\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAAJAJEAAAAAAP\/\/\/\/\/\/\/wAAACH5BAEAAAIALAAAAAAQAAkAAAIKlI+py+0Po5yUFQA7\"\/><noscript><img alt=\"The first &#038; quot; Wendy &#038; # 39; s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers &#038; quot;  in Columbus, Ohio. \" class=\"media__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112523-first-wendys-restaurant-downtown-columbus-oh-file-large-169.jpg?ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_FBC93D63-284D-4AEC-12A3-49F1EB6B203B\">The company became known for its square beef patties &#8211; to emphasize that they were bigger than competitors&#8217; round buns &#8211; and humorous advertising like its 1984 &#8220;Where&#8217;s the beef?&#8221;  campaign, which helped increase Wendy&#8217;s annual revenue by 31% that year.  The catchphrase became so popular that Walter Mondale, the eventual Democratic presidential nominee that year, asked the question to his leading primary opponent Gary Hart during a debate.<\/div>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_D5922748-F349-3A3C-0EED-49E365A13878\">Thomas himself became the public face of the brand, appearing in more than 800 commercials for Wendy&#8217;s from 1989 until he died in 2002. The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized his spots as the &#8221; Longest-Running Television Advertising Campaign Starring a Company Founder . &#8221;<\/div>\n<p>With a folksy, everyman appeal, Thomas typically appeared in a short-sleeved white shirt and a red tie to tout his burgers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Wendy&#8217;s hamburgers are square and old-fashioned. Dave Thomas was square and old-fashioned,&#8221; an ad expert said when Thomas died.<\/p>\n<div class=\"zn-body__paragraph\" data-paragraph-id=\"paragraph_E11F557B-3E5C-57C3-F47B-49F38758E72E\">Although Thomas may have apologized for naming the chain after his daughter, Wendy Thomas-Morse appeared in a 2011 commercial introducing Wendy&#8217;s new cheeseburgers as its &#8220;hottest and juiciest ever,&#8221; named after her father.  It was the first time she was used in an ad campaign as a national pitchwoman for Wendy&#8217;s.<\/div>\n<p>The burgers, she says in the spot, &#8220;would have made Dad say, &#8216;Here&#8217;s the beef.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dave Thomas, a successful Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise owner in Columbus, Ohio, and a protege of founder Colonel Harlan Sanders, was struggling in 1969 to find a name for a new hamburger concept he hoped to open. The fast-food burger market was becoming saturated, but Thomas believed there was an opening to target wealthier young &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wendys-founder-dave-thomas-named-the-chain-after-his-daughter-heres-why-he-regretted-it\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Wendy&#8217;s founder Dave Thomas named the chain after his daughter.  Here&#8217;s why he regretted it.<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,20325],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/220609112259-dave-thomas-daughter-melinda-lou-wendys-file-super-tease.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46240"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}