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.

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 deserts.

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.

Slogans

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

External link

• Official web site (http://www.wendys.com/index.html)

ja:ウェンディーズ