Dave thomas wendys biography

He was sent to West Germany as a mess sergeant and was responsible for the daily meals of 2, soldiers, rising to the rank of staff sergeant. In the mids, Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Col. Harland Sanders came to Fort Wayne, hoping to find restaurateurs with established businesses to whom he could try to sell KFC franchises. At first, Thomas — who was the head cook at a restaurant — and the Clauss family declined Sanders' offer, but Sanders persisted, and the Clauss family franchised their restaurant with KFC; they also later owned many other KFC franchises in the Midwest.

During this time, Thomas worked with Sanders on many projects to make KFC more profitable and give it brand recognition. Among other ideas for improvements, Thomas suggested that KFC reduce the number of items on its menu and instead focus on a signature dish; he also proposed that KFC make commercials in which Sanders would personally appear.

Thomas was sent by the Clauss family in the mids to help turn around four of their failing KFC stores in Columbus, Ohio. After serving as a regional director for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Thomas became part of the investor group which founded Arthur Treacher's. Thomas opened his first Wendy's in Columbus, Ohio , November 15, This original restaurant remained operational until March 2, , when it was closed due to lagging sales.

Not Wendy, but Wenda.

Dave thomas wendys biography

In , Thomas resigned from his day-to-day operations at Wendy's. However, by , several company business decisions, including an awkward new breakfast menu and loss in brand awareness due to fizzled marketing efforts, led the company's new president to urge Thomas back into a more active role with Wendy's. Thomas began to visit franchises and espouse his hardworking, so-called "mop-bucket attitude".

In , he took on a significant role as the TV spokesperson in a series of commercials for the brand. Thomas was not a natural actor, and initially, his performances were criticized as stiff and ineffective by advertising critics. By , after efforts by Wendy's advertising agency, Backer Spielvolgel Bates, to get humor into the campaign, a decision was made to portray Thomas in a more self-deprecating and folksy manner, which proved much more popular with test audiences.

With his natural self-effacing style and his relaxed manner, Thomas quickly became a household name. After more than commercials, [ 4 ] it was clear that Thomas played a major role in Wendy's' status as the third most popular burger restaurant in the U. The group of entrepreneurs spent three years refining plans, raising money, finding a property, and recruiting teachers and students.

The school opened with students and 19 employees as the first co-ed independent school in the greater Columbus metropolitan area. The first graduating class was in with 32 students. In , a new 76, sq ft 7, m 2 building opened. In , the Little Jags preschool program for 3-year-olds began. Thomas was a Christian. After Kenny died in , his sisters still continued to own and run multiple Wendy's locations.

Thomas founded the chain Sisters Chicken and Biscuits in , named in reference to his other three daughters. He had been afflicted with a carcinoid neuroendocrine tumor for a decade, before it metastasized to his liver. He was buried in Union Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio. At the time of his death, there were more than 6, Wendy's restaurants operating in North America.

Thomas, realizing that his success as a high school dropout might convince other teenagers to quit school something he later claimed was a mistake , became a student at Coconut Creek High School. He earned a GED in Business Hall of Fame in Thomas was an honorary Kentucky colonel , as was former boss Harland Sanders. Thomas was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Thomas was raised a Master Mason in Sol.

Bayless Lodge No. Minnie taught Dave that "Hard work is good for the soul, and it keeps you from feeling sorry for yourself because you don't have time. For Dave, eating out was a special event because it was the one time he felt like he had his father all to himself. Born on July 2, , to a single mother, R. The family unit was short-lived, as his adoptive mother died of rheumatic fever when Thomas was five years old.

Travel became a big part of his life as his adoptive father moved from town to town looking for work. Among the few constants in his early life were the summers he spent with his grandmother, Minnie Sinclair, on her small farm in Michigan. He has credited her with providing him with a sense of security and with teaching him the value of an honest day's work.

At an early age, Thomas developed a fascination with restaurants and a love of food. He attributed that to eating out so much as a child and spending time with his grandmother, who worked at an eatery. What could be better than that? His father, who did not participate much in his son's life, remarried three times after his wife died and moved from town to town to find work.

By the time Thomas was a teenager, he had lived in a dozen different places. As his company biography noted, Thomas "found himself without roots or a sense of belonging. Yet without a permanent family of my own, I know I would not be where I am today, " he wrote in Parade Magazine. Thomas lied about his age and started in the restaurant business as a busboy at the Hobby House restaurant in Fort Wayne , Indiana, in The owner, Phil Clauss, was an early mentor to Thomas.

Thomas quit school after the tenth grade he has called this his biggest mistake in life , and began to work full-time. After serving in the U. Army for two years, he returned to the Hobby House in and took a position as a short-order cook. It was there he met his future bride, year-old waitress Lorraine Buskirk. Sanders impressed him with a commitment to quality fast food and a talent for salesmanship.

If Thomas could take over the management of these outlets and make them solvent, Clauss would transfer 45 percent of the ownership of the restaurants to him. Thomas wanted his own restaurant, so he moved his family to Columbus, Ohio. Thomas took on the challenge and quickly recognized the stores were failing largely because of the intimidating, item menu which was confusing to the customers.

He reduced the menu to mostly chicken and introduced the distinctive rotating bucket of chicken sign. He saw himself as a "hamburger man" and decided that hamburgers would be his specialty. He felt McDonald's and Burger King were not doing hamburgers his way: custom-made with fresh meat and a good choice of toppings. Although friends and family cautioned him the hamburger market was saturated, he opened the first Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers restaurant in downtown Columbus in The name derived from his daughter, Melinda Lou, whose siblings had difficult pronouncing her name, which came out "Wenda" and eventually became "Wendy.

Thomas envisioned opening a few stores to give his children work during the summer. However, his concept of a restaurant with old-fashioned food and decor, wooden furniture, and carpeted dining rooms was a hit. Thomas turned a profit within six weeks. With his folksy style and his relaxed pitch for his restaurants, Thomas became a household name.

A company survey during the s, a decade during which Thomas starred in every Wendy's commercial that aired, found that 90 percent of Americans knew who Thomas was. After more than commercials, it was clear that Thomas was one of the main reasons behind Wendy's status as the number-three burger restaurant in the country behind McDonald's and Burger King , with more than 6, franchises.

Thomas also worked throughout his life to promote the adoption of foster children. He founded the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which promoted the creation of an employee benefits program for people who adopt, as well as a number of other groundbreaking initiatives. President George Bush named him a national spokesman on adoption issues.

Thomas, who always regretted not finishing high school, hired a tutor and passed the G. In December , the portly Thomas had quadruple bypass surgery. Though he soon returned to his busy schedule of making commercials, he began undergoing kidney dialysis in early On January 8, , at the age of 69, Thomas died of liver cancer at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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