Wendy's International, LLC, is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. On September 29, 2008, the company merged with Triarc, the publicly traded parent company of Arby's. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was the world's third-largest hamburger fast-food chain, following McDonald's and Burger King.
As of November 2, 2023, there were 7,166 Wendy's outlets, of which 415 are company-owned and 6,751 franchised, 83% of which are in the United States. The company specifies stores' standards; owners control opening hours, decor, and staff uniforms and pay.
The chain serves square hamburger patties on circular buns, sea salt fries, and the Frosty, soft ice cream mixed with starches. The food menu consists primarily of hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and French fries. The company discontinued its Big Classic signature sandwich.
History
1960s–1970s Wendy's hamburgers are based on those of Kewpee Hamburgers in Dave Thomas's home town, Kalamazoo, Michigan; Kewpee sold square hamburgers and thick malt shakes. Thomas founded Wendy's in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969, selling square patties with corners that stuck out of the circular bun, giving the impression of plentiful meat. The Columbus location later added a Tim Hortons. It was closed on March 2, 2007, after 38 years of business, due to declining sales. Basketball star John Havlicek, an Ohio State University alumnus, was one of Thomas's earliest investors, which allowed him to retire comfortably.
Thomas named the restaurant after his fourth child Melinda Lou "Wendy" Thomas. Thomas wrote that he regretted naming the restaurant after his daughter because once it became a fast food empire she "lost some of her privacy" with many people assuming she was the official company spokesperson. In August 1972, the first Wendy's franchisee, L.S. Hartzog, signed an agreement for Indianapolis, Indiana. The first Canadian restaurant opened in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1976. In December 1976, Wendy's opened its 500th restaurant, located in Toronto. In March 1978, Wendy's opened its 1000th restaurant in Springfield, Tennessee.
Wendy's founded the fried chicken chain Sisters Chicken & Biscuits in 1978 and sold it to its largest franchisee in 1987. In 1979, the first European Wendy's opened in Munich, West Germany.
1980s–1990s Wendy's entered the Asian market by opening its first restaurants in Japan in 1980, in Hong Kong in 1982, and in the Philippines and Singapore in 1983. In 1984, Wendy's opened its first restaurant in South Korea. In 1982, Wendy's opened in Australia, but by 1985 almost all of their Australian stores had been purchased by Hungry Jack's, the Australian franchisee of Burger King.
In response to a 1986 slowdown in the chain's performance, Wendy's took steps to ensure that stores met the required standards. Wendy's closed all its outlets in Hong Kong in 1986 and in Singapore in 1987. From 1988 to 1990, Wendy's expanded operations globally to Mexico, New Zealand, Indonesia, Greece, Turkey, Guatemala, as well as the U.S. Naval Base in Naples, Italy. In 1988, Wendy's expanded its bar to a full-blown buffet called the Superbar for $2.99; while popular it was difficult to maintain and was discontinued in 1998.
In 1989, Wendy's opened its first restaurant in Greece at Syntagma Square, Athens, made it the first foreign fast-food chain in the country. After opening 12 restaurants in 3 cities, the company abandoned the Greek market in 2002 due to differences with the local franchisee, although it was a very successful and profitable business at the time. In 1995, Wendy's International sold its 35 Arkansas locations to Fourjay, LLC. In 1996, the chain expanded in Argentina by opening 18 local restaurants. However, all of them closed only four years later due to the economic crisis in the country. In 1998, Wendy's pulled out of South Korea by closing all its 15 restaurants and in 2000 exited from the UK, Argentina, and Hong Kong.
2000s–2010s
Garden Sensations salads were added in 2002. Wendy's signed a franchise agreement to re-enter the Singapore market in 2009, though that agreement was short-lived; in April 2015, Wendy's once again ceased operation in the country and closed all the restaurants. On September 29, 2008, the company merged with Triarc Companies Inc., the publicly traded parent company of Arby's;
In 2011, Wendy's returned to Japan and Argentina announcing a development agreement for 50 restaurants in the country. It also entered the Russian market for the first time with plans to open 180 restaurants over a 10-year period. However, only three years later, in 2014, Wendy's closed all its restaurants in the country. In June 2012, Wendy's acquired 30 franchised locations in Austin, Texas from Dave and Jason Near, two sons of former Wendy's CEO James W. Near. These restaurants were then sold to Haza Foods in December 2013. In August 2012, Wendy's acquired 24 franchised restaurants in Albuquerque.
In 2013, Wendy's opened the first restaurant in Georgia and made a deal to open 25 restaurants in Georgia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. In October 2013, Wendy's sold its 24 Seattle locations to longtime franchisee Cedar Enterprises and in November 2013, the company sold its 54 Salt Lake City locations to NPC International. In February 2014, Wendy's sold its 70 company-owned locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to MUY Hamburger Partners.
In September 2014, several pork-based products were introduced to be on sale until early November. These included a standard pulled pork sandwich with slaw and three sauce options, a BBQ Pulled Pork Cheeseburger and cheese fries with pulled pork, cheddar cheese sauce, onions, and barbecue sauce.
In May 2015, Wendy's announced they would be expanding into India, with its first outlet located in Gurgaon. In September 2016, JAE Restaurant Group acquired 97 Wendy's restaurants throughout the South Florida region. In 2017, the company sold 540 of its restaurants. The divestiture was the second step in a three-step action plan to improve the brand. Other steps include new openings and remodeling of existing stores. In 2015, the brand opened 80 new restaurants and remodeled 450 of its existing locations. The brand's goal was to remodel at least 60% of its North American locations by 2020. In December 2017, Wendy's announced a partnership with DoorDash for food delivery in the U.S.
2020s In October 2019, Wendy's announced that it was returning to the UK market. The first of 20 planned restaurants was due to open in 2020 in Stoke-on-Trent, but it was later announced that the first location would be Reading, Berkshire. The Reading restaurant opened on June 2, 2021. Wendy's would open its first drive-thru location in the UK in Colchester in July 2023. In January 2021, Wendy's announced that after the bankruptcy of franchisee NPC Quality Burgers Inc., half of NPC's outlets would be bought by Flynn Restaurant.
On May 13, 2021, Wendy's opened a pop-up store in The Rocks in the Sydney central business district for a day. Following this, in 2023 Wendy's announced it would be returning to Australia, with hundreds of locations planned to open across the country. However, in Australia Wendy's faces a potential trademark issue with the Wendy's name already in use by an existing ice cream parlour franchise named Wendy's Milk Bar, which opened in 1979 and has been operating in the country for over 40 years. In January 2025, Wendy's opened its first Australian store in Surfers Paradise.
In February 2024, the company announced a plan to explore dynamic pricing, or surge pricing, where the cost of menu items would change throughout the day depending on timing of purchases and restaurant activity, in early 2025. Despite not receiving much attention when first discussed on the company's earnings call, the reaction was largely negative. The company decided against the move later that month and emphasized discounts it offers customers.
In July 2024, Wendy's announced that they had signed an agreement with franchisees in the Republic of Ireland and would begin opening restaurants there beginning in early 2025, with the agreement stipulating that 30 new restaurants would open across the country over the following 10 years. A few days later they announced the first five restaurants in Romania, scheduled to open in 2025. The franchisor for Romania is Canadian company JKC Capital, which operates 61 Wendy's restaurants in Canada and plans to invest $200 million over the next decade.
In September 2026, major Wendy's franchisee Meritage Hospitality Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after The Wendy's Company sought to terminate franchise rights at 316 restaurants owned by Meritage. Court filings showed that same store sales declined significantly, by 48%.
Wendy's by country and continent
Asia
Armenia (since 2025) Georgia (since 2013; first location in the Caucasus) India (since 2015) Indonesia (since 1990; acquired by CT Corp as of 2013) Japan (1980–2009, 2011–2016, since 2016; co-branded as Wendy's First Kitchen) Kazakhstan (since 2021) Kuwait (since 2015) Philippines (since 1983) Qatar (since 2018) Saudi Arabia (1989–1993, since 2017) United Arab Emirates (since 2010) Uzbekistan (since 2019; first location in Central Asia)
Europe
Ireland (since 2025) Romania (since 2025) United Kingdom (1979–1986, 1988–2001, since 2021)
North America
Aruba (since 1992) The Bahamas (since 1983) Canada (since 1976, first location outside the United States) Cayman Islands (since 1989) Curaçao (since 2024) Dominican Republic (since 2007) El Salvador Guatemala (since 2017) Honduras Jamaica (since 2007) Mexico (since 2001) Panama Puerto Rico (since 1978) Trinidad and Tobago (since 1978) United States (since 1969)
Oceania
Australia (1982–1985, since 2025) Guam (since 2012) New Zealand (since 1988)
South America
Argentina (1996–2000, since 2011) Ecuador (since 2013) Chile (since 2015)
Former locations
Costa Rica (2005–2015) Germany (1979–1990) Greece (1989–2002) Hong Kong (1982–1986, then again in 1992–2000) Hungary (1994–2002) Israel (operated for a few years from 1987) Malaysia (2008–2019) Netherlands (1980–1986) Russia (2011–2014) Singapore (1982–1987, 2009–2015) South Africa South Korea (1984–1998) Spain (1980–2000), known from the 90s as Welcome. Switzerland (1981–1983) Taiwan Thailand (1990s) Turkey (1988–1990) Venezuela (1997–2021)
Future locations Brazil (2016–2019; possible return after 2026) Italy (1988–1990, planned for 2026) Poland (2026)
Menu
Wendy's offers two different hamburger patties, a "Junior" patty and a "Single" patty. The 4-ounce patties are sold in single, double, and triple configurations, and the 1.78-ounce ones in single and double. The previous size of per junior patty was reduced in 2007 to save money. The chain's patties are known for being square instead of round; as more square patties can fit onto a single grill over round. Originally, Wendy's had only two kinds of chicken sandwiches, fried and grilled. The spicy chicken sandwich started out as a promotion. It was later put on the menu full-time in 1996 because of its popularity and its ease of preparation; it used the same condiments as the standard fried chicken sandwich.
The Frescata line of sandwiches also went from being promotional items to main menu items; after going through several revisions, the Turkey and Swiss and the Ham and Swiss were put on the menu full-time. They were discontinued in mid-December 2007. Occasionally, some Wendy's restaurants offer a fried fish sandwich.
In 1988, Wendy's was the first fast-food chain to create a single-price-point "value menu" where all items listed on that menu were priced exclusively at 99¢. That menu was modified in 2007, with prices ranging from 99¢ to $2.00.