Does Dave’s daughter now run Davco, the parent co (IIRC) of Wendy’s restaurants? If not, where is she today? Funny, but she never seems to age on those signs! 
- Jinx
Warning : Secondhand information.
Dave Thomas was not the owner of the Wendy’s corporation at the time of his death - I believe it is a publically owned company, but I may be wrong about that.
My aunt, apparently, has met the actual “Wendy” many years back, and at that time, “Wendy” owned and operated some sort of dress boutique, as I recall.
Her real name is “Melinda Lou.” She and her siblings own some Wendy’s franchises in Ohio (near the location of the original restaurant). Davco is not the parent company, but instead is a large franchisee (possibly the largest).
For some strange reason I could have sworn she was deceased.
The information I provided is from a BusinessWeek article of about a year ago, so it’s possible that she died since then.
The was an ad some years ago in which D.T. referred to “my daughter Wendy,” and there was a very attractive brunette in the shot. Was that really her?
Wendy’s always holds a special place in my heart because it is as close to a claim to fame as my family will ever achieve.
My grandma was a real estate agent who sold Dave Thomas a piece of property for his first restaurant and my dad went to school with “Wendy”.
I get excited over the little things in life.
My mom also went to school with Dwight Yokum but that is not nearly as cool.
Where is the first original restaurant in Ohio?
Ava
I’ve alternately heard Dayton, and Columbus.
I’ve seen the one in Columbus - it’s nice. Two stories.
I suspect one is the first Wendy’s, and the other is the first Wendy’s Franchise.
Dublin, OH a suburb of Coumbus
Two stories? Are you serious? I like Wendy’s and all, I find it to be far superior to McDonalds for instance, but two stories? Who needs two stories of fast food restaurant? What could possibly take up two stories? I really am curious about this.
I’ve heard rumros of a McDonald’s that is likewise two stories tall.
But indeed, the Wendy’s in question has two floors - I haven’t been there in a while, but it’s in the heart of downtown Columbus, walking distance from the City Center mall and the Convention Center.
I’ve only seen two story fast food joints where large crowds are to be expected. Manhattan and the Georgetown section of DC, for example. I couldn’t figure out the need for the two story McDonald’s near here though until I realized that there are nearly a dozen hotels in this neighborhood, and hotels mean tour groups.
The one in downtown Columbus is the original restaurant. The Wendy’s website says the first franchise was in Indianapolis. Sadly, we in Dayton don’t own any significant part of early Wendy’s history as far as I know.
As for the restaurant having two stories, perhaps it’s because of the historical displays, such as video kiosks showing “Where’s the beef” commercials? I have not been there in a long time, but I know there was some stuff like that. In general, I have seen a few two-story fast food restaurants in places where space on one floor is limited. That’s usually in cities, of course.
I may have been confusing Dayton and Dublin - but then what’s the story behind the Dublin one? I used to work with a guy, and he said the first Wendy’s was in his town, and he was from Dayton… or possibly Dublin.
I think the corporate HQ may be in Dublin, though.
I don’t know, it’s all a tangled mess!
The one in downtown Columbus is cool though.
Yes, the HQ is in Dublin. I don’t know if there’s any historic restaurant there, but I’m not exactly an expert Wendy’s historian. Of course, when in Dublin, one could probably be referring to Columbus when speaking of one’s own town.
But maybe you aren’t confusing place names, and the guy you worked with was a dirty rotten liar.
There was one on Yonge St. in downtown Toronto for a while, but it closed down a couple years ago.
There’s also a two story McDonalds in a downtown mall in Louisville Kentucky. I think many of these early malls were originally divided into sections much smaller that what fast food restraunts typically want, so some chains may have bought two plots in a single mall and connected them.
There are two story McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Arby’s in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and during the lunch rush, it’s still hard to find a seat. Two dining rooms (and even two prep/serving areas) isn’t a bad idea when there are going to be thousands of people in your restaurant during certain times of day. Outside of the lunch rush, they simply close the non-main floor.
You want overkill in terms of fast food restaurant sizes, though, you have to check out the McDonald’s that’s in a bridge that runs over I-44 in Oklahoma, somewhere between the Oklahoma/Missouri border and Tulsa. It’s billed as the world’s largest, and I believe it, as it spans a four-lane interstate highway. Huge, full of McDonald’s themed tchotkes and cheesy as all heck. It’s not just fast food, it’s a fast food tourist trap! :eek: