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Founder Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers restaurant in downtown Columbus, Ohio on November 15, 1969. The name Wendy and the illustration of a pig-tailed, red-headed little girl were inspired by Thomas’ own daughter, Melinda Lou.
Just over one year later, in 1970, Wendy’s opened a second restaurant in Columbus, featuring a Pick-Up Window with a separate grill. This innovation revolutionized the fast-food industry, and proved to be the catalyst that propelled Wendy’s from a Columbus restaurant chain into a foodservice phenomenon.
Dave Thomas’ idea was always, very simply, to build a restaurant where families could go to enjoy hamburgers their way. Operating under the motto “Quality is our recipe,” Wendy’s quickly became known for square beef hamburgers that hang over the bun, made with the customer’s choice of toppings.
In 1979, Wendy’s became the first national restaurant chain to introduce the salad bar, which kicked off the company’s menu diversification program. In 1983, Wendy’s made the map as the first restaurant chain to offer baked potatoes nationwide. Other recent menu innovations include crispy chicken nuggets, the Big Bacon classic and a wide variety of to-go salads.
Quality and fresh, made-to-order food remain the focus, allowing Wendy’s to quickly serve a variety of meals to millions of customers each day.
Briad’s Quick-Service Division has returned extremely successful results. All of Briad’s Wendy’s are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to better serve customers, and Briad is actively committed to staff development and employee growth.
The Briad Group is a franchisee of Wendy’s International, Inc., and assumes all liability for the content represented in this web site. All representations made in the web site are solely those of The Briad Group and are not to be, under any circumstances, construed as endorsed by, or representations of, Wendy’s International, Inc. The Wendy’s International, Inc. corporate website can be accessed at www.wendys.com.