Wendy’s Founder Apologized For Naming The Iconic Chain After His Daughter

Who knew that there was such internal angst behind-the-scenes at Wendy’s? It certainly didn’t affect the food anyway! Yes, while McDonald’s and Burger King are famous for their patties, the restaurant with the red-headed mascot is right up there with them. Yet one other thing about the latter continues to stand out: the name.

For some, Wendy’s might lack the pizzazz of its competitors’ titles. Then again, the name’s simplicity could also work in its favor in attracting potential customers. However you feel about it, though, have you ever asked yourself why the company went with that familiar name?

Thomas’ daughter Wendy Thomas-Morse sat down for a chat with the chain’s blog to explain what lay behind the name. But interestingly, she wasn’t actually born Wendy. No, her real name was Melinda Lou. But her siblings couldn’t say it properly, according to The New York Times. And instead, they settled on “Wenda.”

Then, “Wenda” quickly became Wendy. But she never could’ve imagined that she would eventually lend this nickname to one of the world’s largest fast food chains. Recalling the brand’s creation, she revealed, “My dad came home and said, ‘I’m going to start a restaurant, and it’s going to be a hamburger restaurant.’”

Thomas-Morse continued, “[My dad] wanted a character, because he worked for the Colonel at [KFC] and knew how much that persona mattered. He said, ‘Wendy, pull your hair up in pigtails.’ So, I did. He got his camera and took pictures of me and my sister and said, ‘Yep, it’s going to be Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers.’”

“That was it,” Thomas-Morse added. “There was no marketing research, no nothing. Just boom. That’s it.” How refreshingly straightforward! After that, Thomas pressed ahead and started up the fast food business in 1969. But something tells us that he wouldn’t have been able to predict what happened next!

As we all know, Wendy’s went on to take the United States by storm – establishing itself as one of the country’s most popular eateries over the next few decades. And the stats certainly back that up. For instance, during its 50th year in business in 2019, the Nation’s Restaurant News website only had six other brands ahead of it.

According to the site, Wendy’s was pulling in more than $9.5 billion in sales at that stage. Impressive stuff, right? Mind you, the eye-opening statistics don’t end there. As per the Encyclopedia Britannica, McDonald’s and Burger King are the only two burger joints in America that are bigger.

Yet Wendy’s isn’t just confined to the U.S. now. In fact, the chain has a real global presence, as proved by the number of eateries that have popped up in recent years. The Statista website reported that over 6,800 of them were in operation across the world in 2020.

We’d be amazed if Thomas foresaw that during his initial pitch in front of the family! The fact that such a simple idea transformed into this behemoth today is truly remarkable. But in those early days, not everyone was happy with Wendy’s – specifically the young Thomas-Morse. And she had good reasons.

While speaking to the brand’s blog, Thomas-Morse looked back on a rather uncomfortable photoshoot she had to endure as a child. You see, as the de facto mascot and inspiration behind Wendy’s name, she was needed to market the chain’s opening. It wasn’t the easiest of jobs, though – especially for a kid.

Thomas-Morse said, “When the first restaurant opened, I was in the third grade and got to skip school. My mom made my blue and white dress and she stuck my hair up in pigtails. And, boy, did I cry. It hurt. Then she stuck those pipe cleaners in there. We sat in front of the photographer for what felt like five or six hours.”

Yep, you’re reading that correctly. Thomas-Morse’s pigtails were held in place by pipe cleaners. It’s no wonder she shed a few tears! Then again, while that part of the job was more than a little unpleasant, Wendy’s mascot did get to enjoy a pretty cool perk, too. Also, you can’t say she didn’t deserve a pick-me-up!

Thomas-Morse continued, “Then my dad had a big store opening. I got to wear my dress and they made this huge hamburger and, of course, when you’re young you’re like, ‘How’d they do that with that big patty?’ Of course, it was just hamburgers all around it, but I got to take a bite out of it and I was just to-the-moon excited.”

It took another few years before Thomas-Morse grasped how popular Wendy’s had become in America. She was a student at that stage – studying marketing at the University of Florida. While there, the brand’s commercials aired on the small screen and featured Thomas front and center. Apparently, that really opened her eyes.

“I understood the importance of marketing, but I just always thought, well, not everyone will know [about Wendy’s],” Thomas-Morse explained. “And then when everyone knew, I thought, ‘Wow, this is kind of big, isn’t it?’” No kidding. The chain was spreading at a fast rate of knots beyond its home in Columbus, Ohio.

But as Wendy’s continued to grow, the brand’s mastermind couldn’t shake a certain feeling from the back of his head. Thomas harbored a lot of regret about his creation’s name, and that followed him for years. In the end, it led to a heartbreaking chat prior to his death in 2002.

Thomas-Morse went on to share that exchange during her talk with the Wendy’s blog. So, it might be an idea to grab a tissue or two! She recalled, “Before my dad left us, we had a long conversation about him naming the restaurant Wendy’s. It was the first time we’d ever had this conversation.”

Thomas-Morse noted, “[My dad] said, ‘You know what? I’m sorry.’ I asked him what he meant. He explained, ‘I should’ve just named it after myself, because it put a lot of pressure on you.’ I responded, ‘Yeah, it is a lot of pressure. I have to do the right thing.’”

What did Thomas-Morse mean by that? It certainly didn’t lead her to change the brand’s name to Dave’s, so what was the so-called “right thing”? Well, it’s pretty simple actually. You see, Thomas’ daughter wasn’t interested in unloading the pressure that came with her connection to Wendy’s – far from it.

“I have to do the right thing, because it’s the legacy I have to carry on,” Thomas-Morse continued. “I want to do the right thing by [my dad], because he worked really hard to start this. I know he’s been gone almost 20 years, but he’s still working. The name does have its advantages, though. Sometimes if I need a reservation, it helps!”

Some people would’ve seen Thomas’ admission as a chance to escape the responsibility – but not his daughter. Plus, she was already firmly involved with the chain in other ways prior to that as well. It all started once Thomas-Morse finished her academic studies in the Sunshine State.

As Thomas-Morse told the brand’s blog, her father posed an interesting question at that point. Yes, Thomas wanted to know if she fancied opening up a Wendy’s franchise herself. The mascot and her hubby soon came around to the idea, but there was a caveat – they weren’t going to receive any aid from the founder.

It was all down to Thomas-Morse and her partner to get a place going. Naturally, they needed to drum up the money themselves, which involved borrowing cash from the bank. In the end, though, the pair navigated the challenges and opened up their Wendy’s in Dallas, Texas.

In fairness to Thomas-Morse, she wouldn’t have had it any other way. The Wendy’s inspiration admitted, “I’m thankful [my dad] chose that path for us, because it made us really work hard and not have people assume, ‘Oh, this was handed to you.’ He didn’t believe in that theory at all.”

As for what Thomas-Morse does at her restaurant, she again took her father’s advice. Thomas wanted everyone connected to Wendy’s to adopt a vital duty: he was eager for them to converse among themselves. In his daughter’s case, she aims to lighten up the mood for her staff.

“My job is to have fun with our teams,” Thomas-Morse said. “That’s my role – to go in and make sure we’re doing the right thing. We talk about the grill a lot because we sell a lot of really great hamburgers.” That’s one way to encourage the troops, right?

Anyway, Thomas-Morse shared a final thought with the blog regarding her feelings towards Wendy’s. It’s been a wild ride since the company’s creation over 50 years ago, and those early days for Thomas’ daughter were far from easy. Yet her loyalty shows no sign of wavering now.

Thomas-Morse concluded, “I love this brand. I will always love this brand, but not because my name is on the buildings. I love our products. I love our hamburgers. I just love everything. Why wouldn’t I? It’s our business. Our family business. For me, Wendy’s is my family.” We can only imagine how proud her dad would be if he heard that. Because – let’s face it – not everybody is so proud to be associated with a fast-food restaurant.

Take, for instance, Ronald McDonald. We don’t know about you, but we always get a warm, fuzzy feeling whenever Ronald’s name comes up. He’s definitely a nostalgic figure, and it’s not just because his face was plastered across the fast food restaurants. McDonald’s actually utilized the clown in a number of interesting ways back in the day.

Alongside his television appearances advertising the chain, Ronald made his comic book debut in the 1970s, you see. The clown’s run was short-lived, yet the Charlton Comics set can fetch a pretty penny today. A copy of the first issue, for instance, was valued at over $110 on eBay at the time of writing.

Ronald was eventually given a helping hand with his main advertising role thanks to the introduction of some new buddies. Yep, we’re referring to the McDonaldland crew. Remember them? The likes of Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, The McNugget Buddies, Mayor McCheese and The Hamburglar were very recognizable for a time.

So with his new buddies in tow, Ronald and the McDonaldland crew dominated the restaurant brand across the 1980s and 1990s. Plus McDonald’s went on to create a number of cartoons with the group front and center. They were exclusive to the chain, meaning you couldn’t see them anywhere else.

Oh, and we can’t forget about Happy Meals. As any kid from that era will tell you, Ronald’s face always seemed to greet you on the iconic packaging. But those carefree days for the famous clown are pretty much over now. McDonald’s eventually put him out to pasture back in 2016. Just sad. Sad.

Hard to believe it’s been that long, right? Plus from the outside looking in, it seemed to be a very bold move by McDonald’s to dump Ronald. Because Fast Food Nation writer Eric Schlosser claimed that just one fictitious figure in pop culture was more famous than the clown – Santa Claus himself. Wow!

We wonder if McDonald’s could’ve predicted the mascot’s meteoric rise in popularity when he was first conceived. Even the most optimistic person might’ve struggled. And that’s got us thinking – why was Ronald created back then? What prompted his emergence? Well, we need to switch our focus to 1963.

Because around then a different clown was winning the hearts of kids across the United States. We’re talking about Bozo the Clown. Recognize that name? The character became a mainstay on the small screen following his debut at the end of the 1940s. He was everywhere at the time, appearing in numerous TV projects.

Much like McDonald’s, Bozo was seen as a franchise. That meant he could essentially star in various television programs that were created by channels in different communities throughout America. Everyone seemed to have their own version of the famous clown. So that brings us to Washington, D.C...

The nation’s capital aired a Bozo program in the early 1960s, you see. And one of the people who helped behind the scenes was a guy named Barry Klein. He plied his trade as an advertising executive. But that wasn’t the only place Klein had a job at – he lent his expertise to a Washington-based McDonald’s franchise, too.

And that helped Klein come up with an interesting idea. According to The Baltimore Sun newspaper, he told the local fast food franchise to get some adverts on the air during Bozo’s slot. That way, they’d be able to get the attention of watching youngsters. His suggestion was heeded in the end.

Everything changed in 1963, though. Because the local station pulled the plug on Bozo’s program. So much for the ads! Yet Klein wasn’t disheartened. Far from it. Instead he devised a different plan of action. Yep, the executive believed that the door was open for McDonald’s to introduce a new clown to the public. Their own. 

So Klein got in touch with the man who portrayed Washington’s Bozo – a fella by the name of Willard Scott. And as per The Baltimore Sun, it was the latter who suggested that this new character could be called Ronald McDonald. Thus Scott jumped into the clown’s costume and started to feature in commercials.

Yet this early incarnation of Ronald was very different to the one we’re used to. Because he had a cup for a nose, a hamburger belt and wore a hat that doubled as a tray of fast food. It was a truly bizarre sight! Yet the act turned out to be a big hit in Washington, which led to something bigger. 

Because McDonald’s showed a real interest in naming Ronald its de facto mascot nationwide. That was just three years later. There was one issue, though. The chain’s advertisers toyed with the idea of dropping the clown gimmick, and switching to an astronaut or cowboy, according to the Insider website.

We’re struggling to picture Ronald in either of those guises! But McDonald’s stuck with the clown persona, and eventually rolled him out across the country in 1966. His look was also updated to the one we all know and love today, the red and yellow clown. The rest was history. Quite a journey, right?

So that leaves us with the big question — why was Ronald dumped in 2016? How could McDonald’s shelve a character that captured the hearts of the public for over 50 years? There are a few explanations behind the decision, ranging from the understandable to the downright bizarre. Try not to get emotional...

Well, 2003 was the start of it all. Because Ronald may well have been on the chopping block even at that stage. His McDonaldland buddies were ruthlessly cut that year, as the chain went in a different direction, according to the website CBR.com. And its plan was to become more appealing to older customers. Kinda makes sense...

So the famous “I’m lovin’ it” ads arrived in 2003, as a result. Somehow, though, Ronald avoided the same fate that befell the likes of Birdie and The Hamburglar, earning a stay of execution. Yet he couldn’t relax for long. As McDonald’s continued to change, the clown’s image really started to stick out.

Now fast-forward to 2012. Because during that year McDonald’s began to redesign all of its restaurants, as the chain aimed to keep up with the times. So that meant the interiors underwent some major changes, introducing stuff like the touch-screen menus. And it didn’t stop there, either.

Even before the restaurants were given modern facelifts, McDonald’s wanted to mirror a coffeehouse aesthetic. We’re talking comfy chairs, free internet access, all that. Thanks to the work being done, it was on the verge of pulling off the look. Oh, and the menu helped, too. Healthier items were now available, alongside McCafe coffee.

So unfortunately for Ronald, he just didn’t fit in with this updated look. As Baker Street Advertising’s Bob Dorfman told Bloomberg in 2011, “He kind of represents the old McDonald’s, with the high-fat content foods that are kind of falling out of favor. It’s clear that McDonald’s is advertising coffee, they’re not advertising burgers.”

Thus Ronald took a backseat going forward. Without wanting to sound too harsh, McDonald’s was growing up, and the clown couldn’t follow them. It was like a teenager putting their old toys away. We feel for the guy! But that’s not the only reason why he started to disappear during that spell.

Because, jumping back a little, 2010 had already been a tough year for Ronald. More people were becoming aware of just how unhealthy some of McDonald’s items really were. As CBR.com notes, fast food’s general link to America’s weight problem was firmly under the spotlight. And that was bad news for the mascot.

Why? Well, consider this. Who was Ronald likely to appeal to in the chain’s ads? Children, right? Several groups recognized that as well, like Corporate Accountability International. This particular body operated out of Boston, Massachusetts, and it believed that the iconic clown was encouraging youngsters to eat the unhealthy stuff at McDonald’s.

The group first raised those concerns back in 2010, reported The Chicago Tribune newspaper. They stuck at it, too, advising McDonald’s to drop Ronald over the next few years. It even got to the stage where people from the body were attending get-togethers with the company’s higher-ups to share their views. The mascot was a marked man!

The newspaper claims that throughout those different get-togethers, Corporate Accountability International maintained the same line of criticism. Quite simply, it said Ronald was “the Joe Camel of fast food.” Yes, we know what you’re thinking – who’s Joe Camel? Well, he’s also an old mascot, but his brand was very different to McDonald’s.

The cartoon-drawn Joe represented Camel Cigarettes for a decent spell, you see. The character was first sketched back in the mid-1970s, born from the brand’s famous logo. But he didn’t appear in America’s marketing of the products until 1988. Yet no one could’ve predicted what happened after that. Because he sparked one hell of a storm.

Regardless of the brand Joe was representing, his animated appearance captured the attention of plenty of kids. So it was realized, according to CBR.com, that he was inadvertently encouraging them to smoke. That quickly caught the eye of the public at the time, leading to a huge moment in 1997.

With a growing pile of legal threats to sort out, as well as interest from the United States government, Camel decided to retire Joe that year. Now we know that smoking a cigarette and eating fast food isn’t in the same ballpark, but we can understand the point Corporate Accountability International was making. In its mind, Ronald was promoting something kids shouldn’t touch.

So Ronald was pushed into the background for that reason, too, yet he still wasn’t actually “retired.” That didn’t happen until 2016. But the decision itself came about after America experienced one of the most bizarre crazes of recent times. Sorry if this next part opens up some old wounds!

Remember the “creepy clown sightings”? If you don’t, here’s a quick rundown. The idea behind the craze was pretty simple in a twisted sort of way. Individuals would dress up as the aforementioned characters and then proceed to terrify people in unexpected locations. Sometimes at night. The United States was awash with these incidents that year. And the cops were getting called, too, so they weren’t simply harmless pranks. 

And it only got worse as time went on. Before the public knew it, some of the clowns had weapons on their person as well. It was like a horror film had come to life. So Ronald found himself in a tricky position, sadly. His brethren were being vilified thanks to the actions of those people.

Thus a representative from McDonald’s released an online message in October 2016. Terri Hickey wrote, “McDonald’s and franchisees in the local markets are mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities. And as such [we’re] being thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald’s participation in community events for the time being.”

Just like that, Ronald’s time in the spotlight was over. What a sad way to end it. So that’s got us wondering – did McDonald’s have another mascot waiting in the wings to take his place? Well, a couple of years before the clown’s official retirement, the chain did introduce someone in May 2014.

Yep, McDonald’s gave the world a glimpse of a character named Happy. Yet there weren’t too many smiles when people saw the figure. It was just a living Happy Meal box, boasting gangly arms and short legs. The face was also a little unflattering, with users online taking shots at its “creepy” look.

But while Happy filled the mascot void after Ronald was dropped, the latter hasn’t been completely phased out of existence. Yep, his name and image live on in two different ways now. One of them is through the Ronald McDonald House Charities organization. This group offers places of residence to folks whose kids are in hospital.

According to the organization’s official website, Ronald McDonald House Charities aids more than 6,000 families every 12 months. That’s a tremendous effort, wouldn’t you agree? As for the second way that Ronald’s still around, you only need to watch the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. You’re sure to spot him there.

So Ronald remains McDonald’s character of choice for the annual gathering. The clown had his own huge balloon in 2019, before a gust of wind caused it to hit a tree and deflate. How unfortunate! Then the following year he appeared again – with a timely face-covering. Could the beloved mascot make a comeback beyond that? Never say never.