Wendy’s old fashioned hamburgers jumped into the ‘Burger Wars’ between McDonald’s and Burger King in 1984. The debate between the industry’s two giants was flame-broiled vs frying. Wendy’s hired an 82-year-old grandmother from Chicago named Clara Peller who blew up the debate by simply uttering the famous words “where’s the beef?”
Wendy’s consumer awareness of the company shot up from 37% to 60%. Clara, who died in 1987, took in more than $500,000 in royalties for one of the most memorable tv ad campaigns ever.
By the age of 8, Dave Thomas was already dreaming of opening his own restaurant one day. His life to that point had been rough. He was adopted at six months old. His adopted mother died when he was 5. And his adopted father was a bit of a gypsy.
Dave Thomas did have a knack, however, for finding great mentors early & throughout his life. His first strong influence was his grandma Minnie. She worked at a restaurant that made everything from scratch and she read the Bible every day. She was also the one who told him he had been adopted.
Dave realized at that point he was on his own.
At the age of 12 Dave got a job at the counter of a beloved Knoxville restaurant owned by the Regas brothers. Frank & George became a big influence on young Dave and he fell in love with the energy of a restaurant.
At 15 he went to work for Phil Clauss who would connect him to both his destiny & his fortune in Columbus, Ohio. Phil owned the Hobby House Restaurant in Ft Wayne, Indiana.
After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Dave returned to Ft Wayne in October, 1953. He also returned to the Hobby House Restaurant and soon met & married Lorraine Buskirk. By Jan 1955 they became parents.
Phil returned from the National Restaurant convention in Chicago raving about Colonel Harlan Sanders and his Kentucky Fried Chicken. Upon meeting the colonel, a short time later Dave got the sense “this man was going to change my life.”
The big turning point in Dave’s career came in 1961 when Phil asked Dave to move himself and his family to Columbus and take over four fledgling stores. Phil had bought out two Columbus investors for .50 cents on the dollar, assumed the $250,000 debt in the company and tied Dave into 40% ownership if he could rescue the sinking ship.
In March 1967, with his third child arriving, Dave was able to pay Phil back the $250,000 debt and gain his 40% ownership in the business. In 1968 Dave & Phil decided to sell. They received $1.7 million from the sale of KFC stock (with a little help from attorney F. Lee Bailey). Dave got 40%. His wife Lorraine celebrated their newfound wealth by building a swimming pool in the shape of a chicken in the backyard for the kids.
The Colonel ended up selling KFC to John Brown (who would later become governor of Kentucky) and businessman Jack Massey for $2 million and a lifetime $40,000 annual salary. The Colonel would call this the biggest mistake of his life.
Five years later Brown and Massey sold KFC for $130 million.
In 1969, at the prompting of his friend Len Immke, Dave finally opened his first hamburger restaurant at 257 East Broad St in downtown Columbus. Immke, a local car dealer, had recently purchased a building on Broad Street where a steak house had gone belly up. He was using part of the building, but Dave could lease the other side where the lounge and bar were sitting empty.
Wendy’s old fashioned hamburgers (named after his daughter) opened with three full time employees and a crowd of dignitaries on hand including the mayor. Customers were lined up down the street.
Wendy’s started making money within six weeks. Dave soon decided to open a second store on Henderson Rd. It was the first Wendy’s with a pickup window.
Within ten years, Thomas had nearly 2000 restaurants, more than 75,000 employees and revenues exceeding $1 billion.
After the highly successful ‘Where’s the beef?’ campaign, Dave was put front and center on TV ads for Wendy’s beginning in 1989. His genuine down home demeanor connected with people. Dave appeared in close to 800 commercials in thirteen years, more than any other company founder in television history.
Thomas accepted an invitation from President George H.W. Bush in 1990 to be spokesperson for a national adoption awareness campaign. From this, Dave was inspired to create the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption in 1992.
Dave released his memoirs in 1992 – ‘Dave’s Way’ – with all the profits going to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
In 1997, Dave testified before Congress to support an adoption tax credit aimed at making adoption more affordable.
Dave died of liver cancer on Jan 8, 2002, at his home in Ft Lauderdale, Fla. At the time of his death, there were more than 6000 Wendy’s restaurants operating in North America.
He is buried alongside his wife Lorraine (who died in Nov 2019) at Union Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio.
Dave Thomas’ compassion & humanity continues to live within the Wendy’s family. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has helped place 10,000 children with “safe, loving and permanent families” and has raised more than $200 million.
Wendy’s celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019 and opened its 7000th restaurant in Dacula, Georgia in 2022. The company headquarters moved back to Dublin, Ohio in 2011 after a brief three year merger with Arby’s Restaurant Group in Atlanta.
By the time Dave Thomas passed away in 2002, he had amassed a $4 billion fortune. He was posthumously awarded the ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’ in 2003.
Dave Thomas was embraced, admired and dearly loved by his adopted city of Columbus, Ohio. His legacy is forever etched into the soul of our community.
Sources: Dave’s Way, the story of Wendy’s and its founder by Dave Thomas, 1991; 101 things you didn’t know about Columbus Ohio, By Horace Martin Woodhouse, 2010; Columbus: America’s Crossroads by Betty Garrett; wendys.com; davethomasfoundation.org; A historical guide to old Columbus by Bob Hunter, 2012; Dave: Fame, fortune and hamburgers by Margaret Newkirk, Columbus Monthly, October 1991; On this Date in Columbus Ohio history by Tom Betti and Doreen Uhas Sauer for the Columbus Landmarks Foundation 2013; Featured picture courtesy of the Columbus Metropolitan Library (picture of Thomas taken alongside Ohio AG Betty Montgomery and Ohio governor Bob Taft celebrating the release of the adoption stamp by the USPS in 2000); Wendy’s original restaurant picture courtesy of the Columbus Metropolitan Library (taken on its last day March 2, 2007).