Who is Dave Thomas? Rex David ‘Dave’ Thomas is known as the founder of the Wendy’s restaurant chain. Before starting Wendy’s, he helped to save the KFC (formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken) franchise from going out of business. Mr. Thomas first worked at a Knoxville restaurant as a youngster of 12 years of age, from which he was eventually fired due to a misunderstanding with his boss about a vacation. At 15, he worked at a Hobby House Restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His father and step-family, at that time, were moving, but he decided to drop out of high school and stay in Fort Wayne. He moved into the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) and started working full time at the Hobby House. This worked out well for him, because through his job at the Hobby House Restaurant, he met none other than Colonel Sanders himself, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, who would become his mentor. Many years later, in 1962, after a stint in the Korean war as a cook in the United States Army, for which he volunteered, Mr. Thomas invested in and was placed in a managerial position over four of Colonel Sanders’ KFC restaurants that were failing. He saw that one of the problems with KFC, and all fast food restaurants of the day, was that they had complicated menus. He worked with Colonel Sanders to drastically simplify the menus, focusing on a few signature meals. This single change helped to turn around the KFC franchise; and, though it was a small thing, it helped revolutionize fast food restaurant menus all over the world. Even to this day, the staple of most fast food restaurants is their overly simplistic menus, focusing on a handful of signature meals. After he had turned these failing KFC restaurants around, he then sold his stake in them back to Colonel Sanders for a significant profit over what he originally paid, receiving $1.5 million in the sale. He took the money and opened the first ‘Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers’ on 15 November 1969, the restaurant being named after his fourth child, Melinda Lou Thomas. You might ask, “How did they get ‘Wendy’ out of Melinda Lou Thomas?” This was a nickname given to her, because she could not pronounce her own name when she was young. She would say, “Wenda,” which is how she got the nickname ‘Wendy’ and how the restaurant in turn got its name. 6,000 restaurants later, Wendy’s became the third largest hamburger fast food restaurant in the world, with annual revenue of about 7 billion dollars, lagging just behind Burger King with its 12,000 restaurants and McDonald’s with its 31,000 restaurants.
As a child, Dave Thomas’s favorite restaurant was Kewpee Hamburgers, the second-ever chain of hamburger fast-food restaurants. Their staple items were square hamburgers and thick malt milkshakes, much like Wendy’s.
Mr. Thomas is the person responsible for introducing the KFC trademark sign, featuring a revolving red-striped bucket of chicken. He was the first person to successfully implement a drive-through window in a restaurant, which is of course, now available at nearly all fast food restaurants.
Wendy’s was the first to successfully create a ‘fast food’ style restaurant that didn’t pre-cook its food or used pre-made frozen items. Dave Thomas credited his ability to do this with the know-how he gained in cooking for more than 2,000 soldiers daily while in the United States Army.
Dave Thomas never met or knew who his biological parents were, other than that they were of Greek descent and that his biological mother was single and dirt poor due the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
Mr. Thomas became a Freemason, a member of the Shriners, and an honorary Kentucky Colonel.
Realizing that his success as a high school dropout might convince other teenagers to quit school, something he later admitted was one of his life’s greatest mistakes, he later became a student at Coconut Creek High School, and in 1993, he received a G.E.D. (General Education Diploma, an equivalent to a High School Diploma), being voted by his classmates as, “most likely to succeed.”
He appeared in more than 800 Wendy’s television commercials, achieving the record for “Longest Running Television Advertising Campaign Starring a Company Founder,” according to the “Guinness Book of World Records.”
Being adopted himself, he founded the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to help children find homes, and to help them and their new families after the adoption.
In 1979, Mr. Thomas’ rags-to-riches story earned him the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.
Upon the passing of his mentor, ‘Colonel’ Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mr. Thomas ordered that all flags at Wendy’s franchises be flown at half-staff. Dave Thomas himself passed on at 69 years of age on 8 January 2002.
If Dave Thomas could do great things with burgers, what can you do, with what you have, where you are?
Wendy’s has more than 6,700 restaurants around the world today. For more information, visit https://www.wendys.com/.
As a child, Dave Thomas’s favorite restaurant was Kewpee Hamburgers, the second-ever chain of hamburger fast-food restaurants. Their staple items were square hamburgers and thick malt milkshakes, much like Wendy’s.
Mr. Thomas is the person responsible for introducing the KFC trademark sign, featuring a revolving red-striped bucket of chicken. He was the first person to successfully implement a drive-through window in a restaurant, which is of course, now available at nearly all fast food restaurants.
Wendy’s was the first to successfully create a ‘fast food’ style restaurant that didn’t pre-cook its food or used pre-made frozen items. Dave Thomas credited his ability to do this with the know-how he gained in cooking for more than 2,000 soldiers daily while in the United States Army.
Dave Thomas never met or knew who his biological parents were, other than that they were of Greek descent and that his biological mother was single and dirt poor due the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
Mr. Thomas became a Freemason, a member of the Shriners, and an honorary Kentucky Colonel.
Realizing that his success as a high school dropout might convince other teenagers to quit school, something he later admitted was one of his life’s greatest mistakes, he later became a student at Coconut Creek High School, and in 1993, he received a G.E.D. (General Education Diploma, an equivalent to a High School Diploma), being voted by his classmates as, “most likely to succeed.”
He appeared in more than 800 Wendy’s television commercials, achieving the record for “Longest Running Television Advertising Campaign Starring a Company Founder,” according to the “Guinness Book of World Records.”
Being adopted himself, he founded the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to help children find homes, and to help them and their new families after the adoption.
In 1979, Mr. Thomas’ rags-to-riches story earned him the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.
Upon the passing of his mentor, ‘Colonel’ Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mr. Thomas ordered that all flags at Wendy’s franchises be flown at half-staff. Dave Thomas himself passed on at 69 years of age on 8 January 2002.
If Dave Thomas could do great things with burgers, what can you do, with what you have, where you are?
Wendy’s has more than 6,700 restaurants around the world today. For more information, visit https://www.wendys.com/.
