Wendy's: The Dave Thomas Story

and now your feature presentation [Music] [Music] i don't even notice all these plastic dishes [Music] one of the most entertaining brands on social media today is wendy's serving up hot and juicy barbs and squarely at its competitors the burger chain's eye-watering savagery consistently delights followers leaving them hungry for more but this unconventional approach wasn't cooked up by a contemporary digital marketing agency as much as it already reflects the rebellious attitude of wendy's from the very beginning and is merely continuing the legacy of its visionary founder dave thomas this is his story dave was born on july 2nd 1932 in atlantic city new jersey and quickly given up for adoption then at five years old his adoptive mother uleva died of rheumatic fever his adoptive father was a mechanic at the time but was always unsatisfied with his work and would routinely change jobs constantly moving his family from city to city as a result dave would change schools often which made it difficult to make friends as a father rex thomas was an icy cold intimidating figure while he provided for dave he wasn't affectionate and lacked the disposition to nurture him emotionally but there was a bright spot dave would find that missing piece from his adoptive grandmother whom he'd spend his summers with in kalamazoo michigan mini sinclair was a vibrant strong christian woman that would extol the virtue of working hard onto a young impressionable dave becoming the strongest influence in his early life every saturday the pair would head down to kalamazoo for lunch and afterwards they would do a little shopping dave's adoptive father would eventually remarry but it wasn't long before they divorced and dave and his dad were on their own and on the move once again dave entered the world unwanted and was given a childhood that was unstable but what he doesn't know yet is that he's actually traveling on a bumpy road to greatness life is taking him down a winding path that will soon lead him to his greatest passion and set him on a journey that will change an industry at eight years old dave found himself living with his father in a rooming house in detroit that didn't have a kitchen so the two would begin to frequent restaurants exclusively for their meals dave would always order his favorites a big juicy hamburger and a milkshake so thick it required a spoon it was here where he would fall in love with restaurants but it wasn't just about the food for him eating out was a special event since his father would spend most of his time drinking with his buddies in the evenings dinner was the only time dave would have him all to himself and even though they would hardly speak dave was equally content just looking around at the other tables [Music] for the lonely dave the experiences from eating out would leave such a profound effect on him that at just eight years old he made up his mind one day he would open the best restaurant in the world by age 12 dave had moved four times in six years now he was living in knoxville tennessee with his father his father's third wife and her children he was so hungry for success that he lied about his age to begin working at the regis restaurant since he was big for his age he thought he would be able to pass himself off as 16. but in reality his boss suspected dave was younger but decided to let him work anyway because of his determination the regis was a highly reputable restaurant and working there was a formative experience for dave the owner taught him about maintaining cleanliness adhering to high quality standards and above all keeping the customer happy after two years of working at the regas dave's father was ready for another move dave was now living in fort lane indiana and immediately began searching for another restaurant job and found it at the newly opened hobby house that was looking for a busboy dave jumped at the opportunity even though his main goal was to work in the kitchen he figured if he was going to one day open his own restaurant that he should know how to do everyone's job eventually dave's hard work would pay off and he was promoted to kitchen staff he became close to his co-workers and the owner was becoming a real father figure to him but it wasn't long before dave's adoptive father was preparing for yet another move but this time dave refused to follow his father he had a job and found a family in the restaurant and decided he was going to stay in fort wayne and it wasn't a request dave stated it as a fact [Music] perhaps surprised by young dave's determination his father relented as rex packed up the trailer a choked up dave would tell him someday you'll be proud of me i'm going to have my own restaurant and i'm going to be a success to which his dad replied i hope you're right son good luck to you the hobby house rented dave a room at the local ymca he was 15 years old living on his own and working 50 hours a week he was still enrolled in fort wayne central high school but it wouldn't be long before dave dropped out in favor of pursuing his job in the restaurant all the way before dropping out he wrote an essay titled the pursuit of happiness that was published in the school paper [Music] that's right [Music] in 1950 at age 18 dave enlisted in the army during the start of the korean war he decided to enlist instead of waiting to be drafted because this way he would have a better chance of choosing his specialty he volunteered to work in the mess hall out of a curiosity of how the army ran its version of a restaurant shortly after he enrolled in the army's cook and baker school where he learned about measuring and quantity systems the school taught him about the big picture of feeding a lot of people skills that would prove to be invaluable for the aspiring restaurateur after being discharged dave would return to indiana and was back working at the hobby house it's here that he would meet a waitress who would become his future wife and while his military career was behind him a former staff sergeant would soon begin reporting to a man of a different rank [Music] original [Applause] it's 1952 in kentucky and a man in his 60s is hitting the road with a revolutionary concept that will one day make him a multi-millionaire as well as an american icon he's harlan sanders a local restaurateur whose business contributions have resulted in the governor bestowing him with the honorary title of colonel he's developed a recipe to perfectly seasoned fried chicken and found an innovative way to prepare it by using pressure cookers that drastically reduced cooking time and now colonel is looking to expand his one-of-a-kind kentucky fried chicken his plan is to sell his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices along with the rights to use his image and likeness to independent restaurant owners for a 5 cent commission on all chickens sold soon colonel sanders will cross paths with a young dave thomas in a fortuitous meeting that will change both of their lives forever a colonel was successfully signing up restaurants near and far and would eventually arrive at the hobby house where he would also convince a reluctant restaurant manager dave thomas [Music] an ambitious dave began selling the colonel's fried chicken and business at the hobby house took off with lines out the door but it wasn't just the quality of the product it was also due to dave's innovative approach to marketing and branding that not only helped sell the chicken but changed the way the entire restaurant industry operated from that point on dave began conducting customer surveys something unheard of in the restaurant business at the time and found that customers liked ordering food to take out instead of dining in it was convenient and save time for those looking to eat at home as well as for the growing segment of travelers who preferred taking the food with them to enjoy at parks and picnics this insight led dave to open a room in the restaurant strictly for take-home orders in effect pioneering the concept of carryout in those days marketing was also a foreign concept for restaurants they would just cook the best food possible and rely on word of mouth to bring in more customers knowing the power of being a showman harlan sanders had turned himself into a character but for all of his showmanship the colonel was still just a one-man show dave sought to magnify the colonel's visibility by getting him on local tv and radio spots it was the early days of television and dave would get publicity for kentucky fried chicken by offering free chicken in exchange for air time for the colonel dave believed that since food was such a personal thing tied closely to family life that people wanted to know the values of the person serving it and it worked wonders colonel sanders soon became a household name say you probably consider yourself a pretty good cook um right well how'd you like to make a million dollars frying chicken yeah today's guest did just that but he has been a soldier in the spanish-american war a blacksmith's helper railroad fireman law student justice of the peace ferry boat operator and filling station owner what's more he made his fortune frying chicken after the age of 65 with nothing but an idea and a social security check to go on ladies and gentlemen meet a man who says it's never too late to succeed colonel harlan sam [Music] [Applause] with his great success in selling the colonel's chicken out of the hobby house in fort wayne indiana dave was summoned to columbus ohio to help turn around four other hobby house locations that were also serving colonel sanders chicken but were surprisingly failing with the opportunity to make more money and receive stock options dave took up the challenge and moved his family to columbus and he not only turned them around he took kentucky fried chicken to the next level he simplified their menus to focus primarily on featuring the chicken then he updated the look of the already popular kfc bucket to the red and white stripe design that remains to this day and as a way to attract customers dave had erected a giant revolving bucket sign the colonel loved the idea so much he had them installed in all of his franchises but perhaps the biggest impact dave had on kentucky fried chicken was building the brand itself you see while colonel sanders was working a franchise model of sorts it wasn't done the way we think of a franchise today back then the independent restaurants retained their own names and simply listed colonel sanders kentucky fried chicken as a featured menu item but after realizing that the majority of customers were coming to the hobby house specifically for the chicken dave decided to change the name of the restaurant from hobby house to colonel sanders kentucky fried chicken taking a simple featured menu item and transforming it into a full-fledged brand dave's contributions elevated kentucky fried chicken and made him a very rich man in the process but he wasn't done with the restaurant industry and far from done with innovating it [Music] in business most industries operate under a duopoly where the market is dominated by two main players making it extremely difficult and rare for a third to enter and last for long it's the late 60s in columbus ohio and a 37 year old dave thomas is now a multi-millionaire from the stock he received during his stint with kentucky fried chicken he's no longer working and taking it easy while still dreaming of his own burger place each week while sitting in a sauna with a friend at a local athletic club he would share his ideas in detail one day they went to the club dining room for a burger but it was closed his friend realized time was right for dave to seize the opportunity his friend had recently bought a building that was previously a steakhouse he was using part of the space to house cars for his showroom down the street the lounge and dining area were sitting empty he offered to rent it out to dave as the site for his new restaurant [Music] dave's vision was to create the antithesis of the usual quick service chains his restaurants would exude quality he would communicate this with upscale overtones like carpeting his dining rooms he would use fresh 100 pure beef for his burgers and in an effort to distinguish them he would make square patties so the edges would stick out over the sides of the bun to visually demonstrate how big they were it was also a nod and wink to his grandmother who had decades prior spoken about never cutting corners in 1969 dave opened the first wendy's restaurant named after his daughter offering a burger that was priced three times higher than mcdonald's after the launch the number two burger chain burger king commissioned a report to determine why wendy's wouldn't work the first wendy's was a big hit with locals by offering a nostalgic experience where customers could enjoy eating the type of old-fashioned hamburgers they grew up on it was a time of great change in america one of which being the ever-increasing shift to life on the go so the following year he opened a second location and just as he pioneered carrie out during his time at kentucky fried chicken dave would once again innovate in his effort to serve customers by this time introducing drive-thru well before mcdonald's or burger king it was a revolutionary concept at the time which has since become synonymous with fast food with mcdonald's and burger king both benefiting from a 20-year head start dave knew he had to expand fast to catch up and embarked on a whirlwind franchising campaign but unlike the usual franchise model that saddled franchisees with enormous costs for supplies and equipment wendy's would steer clear of those kinds of suffocating requirements and instead of the standard way of signing up individual franchisees one by one dave would sign them by regions another revolutionary practice that has since been adopted by the industry his fair dealings and herculean effort resulted in the monumental signing of 1 000 franchises in 100 months a feat that had never been accomplished before the upstart wendy's was quickly gaining enormous ground and was on track for a collision course with the two established brands who may have saw him coming but were definitely not ready as he prepared to take aim at their greatest vulnerability [Music] [Music] i'm in the big leagues totally don't miss me balling like houston hey feeling like whitney i need a bag bruh [Music] just too quick for it peeling off like the whip orange just seen it after this piss pour i got too much i gotta tend to car payments in the rendu told y'all that i'm six foot but with the money stabbing i'm 10 too too much that i've been through so i put it all in that review clean money in the black whip got all problems with the friends new yeah i'm in the middle east totally don't miss me balling like houston hey feeling like whitney yeah i need a bag bruh send it too quickly i'm making his dog like [Music] while mcdonald's and burger king were flying high as the nation's top burger chains they both shared a common flaw an unremarkable product both used frozen beef and served pre-made burgers that would sit under hot lamps all day and without the ability to believably sell on the quality of their food both brands instead focus their marketing to target an audience with less discriminating tastes children the two brands were not in the restaurant business as much as they were in show business competing solely to outperform each other in entertainment value dave knew he had the superior product and in 1981 he would arrive on national television and make it clear to america that play time was over there's mcdonald's and i'm hungry i'll just pop one balloon whoa and drop in for a hamburger shake and fries introducing that king of fun [Music] i can do most anything now watch me kids when i twist my ring like magic we're at burger king burger king dave thomas i start at wendy's one restaurant in a philosophy don't have hamburgers sitting around serve them hot off the grill now given that why would anyone go anyplace else ain't no logical reason for me hot off the grill is inductively deductively and deliciously better go anyplace else ain't no reason is it no reason isn't no reason ain't no reason wendy's ain't no a reason to go anyplace else a simple tv commercial by this fast food chain is causing a major controversy with the country's english teachers while dave presented a compelling case for americans to rethink their dining choices the ad was surprisingly met with a fair share of outrage and it wasn't because of what they said in the ad but it was how they said it the ain't no reason slogan was a major problem for english teachers and students alike angry letters began pouring in from all over the country admonishing wendy's for their flagrant abuse of the english language the word ain't was already bad grammar but the double negative ain't no was blasphemy the intent of the ad was to convey the brand's folksy down home vibe they spoke in the ad like most people would talk and that had never been attempted on national tv ads before and while it was an overall success the backlash from the tiny vocal minority calling for a boycott on wendy's was becoming fodder for the press prompting dave to hold a press conference and address the angry mob once and for all dave wouldn't cower to the pressure and defiantly fired back at his critics he asked did elvis get criticized for saying you ain't nothing but a hound dog or fats domino for ain't that a shame so give me a break he concluded his speech by saying dave thomas has two words for the people who don't like his ad the controversy would subside and while wendy's took some heat for their bad grammar ultimately it helped raise their profile as a company to be reckoned with while making a deep impression on the public mcdonald's and burger king both relied on cartoonish mascots to lure children into their establishments with a song and dance while the actual food being served was a mere afterthought dave proudly stood behind his product casting himself in commercials courting adults rather than children and his mild-mannered unpretentious midwestern charm instantly connected with audiences while burger king's marketing mo was to essentially go tit-for-tat with mcdonald's wendy stayed in its own lane and kept the emphasis on what truly mattered the food rather than playing follow the leader they would focus on customers instead and look for ways to serve them better wendy's would stay on top of consumer trends so when the country was becoming more health conscious they became the first national chain to introduce a fresh garden salad bar they would follow that up by being the first national chain to offer a hot stuffed baked potato on their menu with wendy's ascending the top of the mountain was getting crowded while the three brands never mentioned each other by name in their ads the tension was certainly building and it wouldn't be long before one company would blink first [Music] sunday september 26 1982 is a date that will live in infamy as the official start of the burger wars for the first time ever after years of friendly rivalry one brand will break an unspoken rule and call out a competitor by name in a daring blindside attack ad on prime time television in front of a captive national audience a very very big message for grown-ups do i look 20 smaller to you i must mcdonald's when i order a regular burger at mcdonald's they make it with 20 less meat than per cooking unbelievable luckily i know perfect way to show mcdonald's how i feel i go [Music] burger king would strike first against mcdonald's and continue its onslaught by airing a second attack ad the very next day this time also calling out wendy's as well a very important message from burger king at this time we'd like to offer sympathy to mcdonald's and wendy's you see the whopper beat the big mac for best taste overall among consumers of both burgers in a similar test we beat wendy single now that may have surprised mcdonald's and wendy's well so we just wanted to say it's okay guys winning isn't everything but it sure is fun order in the court mcdonald's would not respond publicly to burger king's affront but would take them to court to try and get the ads taken down citing burger king making bogus unverified claims against mcdonald's wendy's would also sue but would go a step further by holding a press conference to dispute burger king's claims [Applause] despite having to deal with lawsuits coming from both sides burger king's bold campaign helped increase their sales by 10 shortly after this win the crafty burger king convinced mcdonald's and wendy's to drop their lawsuits and in exchange burger king would drop the ads but it was merely just a ruse and burger king would continue on its warpath by airing more attack hats burger king would like to ask you a very important very crucial question but relax it's also very easy if you think flame boiling is the best way to make a tender juicy tasty steak what do you think is the best way to make a tender juicy tasty hamburger think about it now here's another question if mcdonald's and wendy's fry and burger king flame foils burger king was declaring victory by harping on the alleged superiority of its flame broiled cooking method over frying what allowed burger king to be so brazen was their assumption that mcdonald's with its family-friendly image would refuse to get their hands dirty by countering with their own attack ads and they were right mcdonald's opted to keep ignoring burger king publicly but wendy's was not at all going to let burger king's antics go unchecked and would fire back with humorous biting ads that didn't rely on dubious taste tests but wendy's would steer the conversation back to the heart of the matter fresh versus frozen beef two famous hamburger places use frozen hamburgers [Music] of course they do fall out while they're cooking still they wear once frozen stiff wendy's hamburgers are made with fresh ground beef so one reason they taste so fresh and hot and juicy is that they've never been frozen stiff you want something better your wendy's kind of people [Music] the burger wars would rage for two years and peak in 1984 by this point even mcdonald's had their hand forced and they finally released a mild response to burger king by debuting their answer to the whopper the mcdlt sandwich but the year would still belong to wendy's who released an epic ad that swept the nation by storm and became a cultural phenomenon it certainly is a big one it's a very big fun big fluffy bun it's a very big fluffy bun why is the beef some hamburger places give you a lot less beef on a lot of bun where's the beef at wendy's we serve a hamburger we modestly call a single and wendy's single has more beef than the whopper or big mac but when do you get more beef and less bun hey where's the beef i don't think there's anybody back there you want something better your wind is kind of people the where's the beef add dropped like an atomic bomb effectively putting an end to the burger wars shortly after burger king would abandon their attack ad strategy and send their marketing department scurrying back to the drawing board although wendy's didn't start the conflict it would gain the most from it after the where's the beef campaign sales jumped a beefy 31 and brand awareness shot up from 37 percent to a whopping 60 catapulting wendy's into rarefied air as an undeniable third brand in the cutthroat fast food industry the ad was so well received it spawned merchandise a song and even made its way into a presidential debate when i hear your new ideas i'm reminded of that ad where's the beep [Music] [Applause] after the burger wars mcdonald's and burger king dusted off their old faithful playbooks and resumed their gimmicky marketing prioritizing flash over substance while wendy's continued its focus on quality and innovation david was battling two goliaths and while their power was undeniable they were actually hindered by their girth their oversized stature caused them to move slower than the scrappier wendy's who was able to out-maneuver them and attack the market quicker while having the advantage to take more risks forcing the giants to actually follow their smaller adversary's lead this is how wendy's was able to beat them to the punch with drive-thru early on and it's how after the burger wars cooled down wendy's was able to land another stunning blow by introducing the super value menu featuring select items offered every day for only 99 cents it was another home run that helped wendy's distinguish itself the groundbreaking initiative was eventually copied by mcdonald's and burger king and has since endured to this day as a staple of the industry and while mcdonald's burger king and wendy's all had their own signature sandwiches with the big mac the whopper and the big classic respectively wendy's would go further with their offerings by routinely releasing chef-inspired gourmet burgers for a limited time only consistently drawing customers back to their restaurants by always featuring something new and interesting in 1996 wendy's took one of their previously limited time sandwiches and made it a permanent fixture by adding the spicy chicken sandwich to their regular lineup once again doing it first and having the other guys play catch-up of the big three chains mcdonald's and burger king have always remained comfortable staying status quo while wendy's has always been the consummate trendsetter due to the pure love for the restaurant business that its founder exemplified [Music] another love that was always close to dave's heart was children in 1992 he established the dave thomas foundation for adoption which is the only public non-profit charity that is focused exclusively on foster care adoption at the age of 13 dave would learn that he was adopted and while he had a tumultuous childhood he still believed in the power of foster care had he not been adopted he would have surely been a ward of the state or raised in a county orphanage and had that happened perhaps dave would have never been fortified with the love and affection he received from grandma minnie it was instrumental in the unlikely orphan achieving unimaginable success against all odds burger king has been dethroned as the nation's second largest hamburger chain wendy's now holds the number two spot for the first time since it was founded more than 40 years ago food industry research firm technomics says wendy's has 8.5 billion in sales for 2011 burger king 8.4 but mcdonald's still ran supreme out of all restaurants with more than 34 billion dollars in sales last year subway comes in at number two and starbucks is third [Music] the son of a man worked his fingers to the bone just trying to make something out of nothing you know he never wanted silver gold or the finer things just a wife and kids at home in the american dream [Music] [Music] baby this is our time to rewrite our american dream [Music] i wanna see the world from the edge of my seat through a big windshield of a plane not a tv screen do you need the road to tell you you really are find out whether or not a man could ever change his stars [Music] baby this is our time to reunite our american dream [Music] i ain't gonna step alive [Applause] oh [Applause] [Applause] oh is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: TREPFLIX

Views: 145,508

Keywords: business, entrepreneurship, making money, success, marketing

Id: _4VsIfLag3g

Length: 38min 52sec (2332 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 25 2021