Wendys founder regretted naming burger company…
Just like Wendy’s burgers, she thought she’d be handled like a sq..
Having a multinational food company named after you would possibly sound like anybody’s dream. However, Wendy Thomas Morse felt that being the face of her father’s burger franchise was so “awkward” that she stored her mascot standing a secret from others.
“I mean, there were times I didn’t want people to know because I didn’t want them to have assumptions,” the 64-year-old fast food scion told PEOPLE. “I guess my assumption was that they wouldn’t think I was cool or hip or whatever at the time.”
Morse was eight years previous when her father, Dave Thomas, determined to identify Wendy’s after her.
“I would never, if I met a lot of new people, I would never tell them who I was,” Morse said while reflecting on her childhood fame. “It’s usually someone else that says it. And then it gets awkward and then it gets all better.” Wendy’s
“He wanted a character, because he worked (previously) for the Colonel at Kentucky Fried Chicken and knew how much that persona mattered,” she recalled, per Food & Wine magazine. “He said, ‘Wendy, pull your hair up in pigtails.’ So, I did. He bought his digicam and took photos of me and my sister and said, ‘Yep, it’s going to be Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers.’
The hamburger magnate opened his flagship restaurant in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio, which grew to become a resounding success, prompting him to construct other branches around the nation.
By 1978, the burger monger, well-known for its sq. meat patties and frosty drinks, had opened 1,000 shops — a milestone it reached sooner than any of its rivals.
Dave Thomas with daughter Wendy Thomas Morse. Wendy’s
A Wendy’s restaurant signal in Midland Park, New Jersey, as seen on July 6, 2025. Christopher Sadowski
In addition to carrying Morse’s identify, the shops also bore her likeness — her freckles, vibrant pink pigtails, and toothy smile — on their glowing 120-foot indicators.
This meat-eoric rise proved uncomfortable for Morse, who, despite being “very proud” of her fame, hardly ever disclosed her movie star standing.
“I would never, if I met a lot of new people, I would never tell them who I was,” she admitted. “It’s usually someone else that says it. And then it gets awkward and then it gets all better.”
And while she finally got here to respect being the face of the franchise, her father Dave got here to remorse the choice, and even apologized to her 10 years before his death in 2002.
“Probably 10 years before my dad passed, we talked about my name and namesake, and he just goes, ‘I’m really sorry I did that to you,’” Morse recalled. “To hear your father say, ‘Probably should’ve just named it Dave’s and that would have been a lot easier,’ was a lot.”
However, she admitted that it was good to hear that her dad empathized with her over the “pressure and the responsibility of being the namesake of a restaurant.”
Now, over 20 years since his passing, Morse has come to affiliate the signal with delight relatively than embarrassment, seeing it as a image of her father attaining his lifelong dream.
“He always just wanted to serve quality hamburgers — fresh, never frozen beef — and just really good products and have customer service be friendly and have a clean restaurant,” Morse reminisced. “So now when I see the sign, I just think of my dad a lot because he’s there in spirit.”
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