Arbys buys Wendys

[Fenway]

Arby's Owner to Buy Wendy's

DUBLIN, Ohio (April 24) - The owner of Arby's said Thursday it is buying Wendy's International Inc. in an all-stock deal worth $2.34 billion that comes after the burger chain's board rejected at least two earlier offers by the company.

Triarc Companies Inc., which is owned by billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, will pay about $26.78 per share for the company, which has about 87 million shares outstanding. The price is a premium of 6 percent from the company's closing price of $25.32 Wednesday.

Pam Thomas Farber, 53, daughter of Wendy's founder Dave Thomas, said the family was devastated by the news.

"It's a very sad day for Wendy's, and our family. We just didn't think this would be the outcome," she said.

If her father were alive to hear news of the buyout, "he would not be amused," Farber said.

Wendy's deferred comment Triarc, which said it would discuss the deal later Thursday.

Under the terms of the deal, shareholders at Wendy's, the nation's No. 3 hamburger chain, will receive 4.25 shares of Triarc Class A stock for each share of Wendy's stock they own.

Atlanta-based Triarc said its shareholders will have to approve a charter amendment in which each share of its Class B stock will be converted into Class A stock.

Triarc said it will also change its name to include the Wendy's name.

The Wendy's board has been studying strategic alternatives since early last year. Sales have slid despite a struggling economy that should benefit the chain.

Wendy's shares fell 32 cents to $25 in electronic premarket trading.

Farber said the family had a supported an alternate bid led by Wendy's franchisee David Karam, president of Cedar Enterprises Inc.

"We knew what Dave Karam's commitment was to Wendy's, his family's commitment - just as ours. His dad was a very good friend of our dad's and was one of the very first franchisees, so there's a lot of history."

Associated Press writer Doug Whiteman contributed to this story.
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[Scutter01]

Wow! I spent almost 7 years of my youth working at Wendy's, both as a line worker and a store manager. I'm sad to see this news.

 

[Fenway]

What did you think of Wendy's food. Did you see anything weird go down?

 

[Scutter01]

What did you think of Wendy's food. Did you see anything weird go down?

I can only comment about my home store and the stores in my district where I worked. My store was awesome. I did not allow weird ****. The food was always properly stored and prepared and the store was always clean. We consistently scored 96% or better on health inspections. Dave even visited us once and gave us his personal thumbs-up (and he was PICKY).

The other stores in my district weren't quite as good, but they still also scored consistently well on their inspections. I never heard of anything newsworthy (spitting in hamburgers sort-of-thing) either before or after I became a manager.

The fact is, you always hear of, or know of someone, who got a sneezer or something, but there were no stories like that in any of the stores I was ever involved with.

 

[Fenway]

I was never really big on fast food but after reading Fast Food Nation a couple of years ago I lost my appetite for hamburgers almost completely. I like the baked potato, side salads, and stuff like that at Wendy's. I would much rather eat there then McDonalds (haven't stepped foot in one of those in probably 10 years)

 

[Scutter01]

I was never really big on fast food but after reading Fast Food Nation a couple of years ago I lost my appetite for hamburgers almost completely. I like the baked potato, side salads, and stuff like that at Wendy's. I would much rather eat there then McDonalds (haven't stepped foot in one of those in probably 10 years)

Yeah, I hear you. Even today, 15 years or so after my last day at Wendy's, I still find myself picking out everything wrong any time I walk into a restaurant. I find myself looking at details like the hoods over the grills, containers of dirty water (used to soak dishcloths for wiping tables), how greasy the floor on the line is, fingerprints on the stainless steel cooler doors, mold or mildew on the seals, and so on and so on.

I feel pretty comfortable in my ability to pick out a store with mere cosmetic issues over one that really doesn't know how to safely handle food.

In one of the other threads, we were talking about work ethics. In these fast-food jobs, there are a lot of kids who expect a paycheck just for showing up (and a lot of managers who will give it to them). The trick is finding the stores where the managers won't put up with that kind of crap. I like to think that I was one of the ones that expected them to do their jobs and I think the quality of my store reflected that.

By the way, the plain baked potato and an iced tea together amount to Wendy's #1 profit maker. Your ~$2 meal costs them about 12 cents (and that includes all overhead). Those two items alone completely subsidize all of the "for a limited time only" sandwiches (which are almost always sold at a loss).

 

[Fenway]

Really I love those baked potatoes. I used to go to a Wendy's in Bloomington when in shcool thee and they would always run out of them around lunch time

By the way, the plain baked potato and an iced tea together amount to Wendy's #1 profit maker. Your ~$2 meal costs them about 12 cents (and that includes all overhead). Those two items alone completely subsidize all of the "for a limited time only" sandwiches (which are almost always sold at a loss).

 

[Scutter01]

Really I love those baked potatoes. I used to go to a Wendy's in Bloomington when in shcool thee and they would always run out of them around lunch time

I always thought Wendy's was the best of the bunch specifically because of Dave's food-prep philosophy. People never understood how we could run out of baked potatoes! "Can't you just microwave some?"

Rule #1: NO MICROWAVE OVENS. EVER. PERIOD. Everything cooked fresh, literally made to order at the time you order it. No heatlamp burgers. It's a thing of beauty to watch a dozen hamburgers, all different, prepared by hand and ready on your tray before you're done paying. A good sandwich maker can bang out a custom burger in under four seconds. There's usually a grill full of meat, and a good grill guy can time his production so that he has the right number of cooked patties at the exact instant that the sandwich maker needs them. It's literally an art form. You go to McDonalds or Burger King and they cook a big pile of meat patties all at once and then throw the patties into a warmer, then the sandwich maker makes a dozen identical burgers and puts those into a warmer until you order one.

Potatoes are baked in a standard oven. They take 2-3 hours to bake. It's tricky to estimate how many you'll need for a given lunch or dinner rush. Any extras after their two-hour post-baking hold time are pitched. Chili is made fresh every day. Takes 4 hours to simmer. (Ok, leftover chili is sold the next day, but never kept longer than overnight).

 

[TomN]

I used to go to Wendy's all the time. I loved their burgers!

Then a guy has ONE little heart attack. Now I have to eat chicken and fish. This makes me sad.....

 

[Pete-FWA]

The Wendy's Restaurants around here were always top notch.

Wendy's had some good selections and some healthy ones at that. I've not set foot in a fast food restaurant (except Subway) in almost 7 years now. (I had to avoid temptation to get healthy.)

Dave Thomas operated a restaurant here in Fort Wayne before he returned to Ohio to start his own. Even though he wasn't a native, many people identified him as part of our city's history.

The ONLY time I ever recall hearing anything negative about Wendy's was when that lady in CA faked finding a finger in her chili about 2 years ago.

Despite the fact that they are a huge corporation, they gave you that family owned feeling. That's what makes me sad to hear that some other company will now be in control of them.

Hopefully it works for the best.

 

[TraderJack]

Wendy's was always a favorite for me, but after Dave died, I didn't go so much. I really think his presence worked to make the brand successful. People trusted him.

I wondered how long the company would last with out him at the helm.
It's sad to see them pass into history, but I think it was inevitable.

I hate those Arbys! Big price, little sandwich...
I doubt if I'll ever patronize Wendy's again.

Thanks for the heads up...

 

[Scutter01]

Wendy's is about the only "traditional" fast food chain that actually sells healthy food. The chili is very low-fat (around 6 grams) because all the meat is cooked, and then boiled and drained before going in. The baked potatoes are fat-free. Even the Frostys are low-fat chocolate ice milk (around 8 grams of fat), not ice cream. These are all things that Wendy's has had since the day it opened. It's still fast food, but it's easier to find healthy choices there than any of the other burger places.

 

[Fenway]

Any of you guys ever dip your fries in the frosty. I had a buddy who did that all the time.

 

[Erebus]

Any of you guys ever dip your fries in the frosty. I had a buddy who did that all the time.

Hahaha I had friends that did that. I never got into that. I was never a big frosty fan. It's rare to get hot salted fries from them....

 

[TomN]

Any of you guys ever dip your fries in the frosty. I had a buddy who did that all the time.

What kind of savage does that??

 

[Fenway]

I don't know. I admit to trying it once. Tasted fine. I'm just wondering if a lot of people do this.

What kind of savage does that??

 

[Scutter01]

Any of you guys ever dip your fries in the frosty. I had a buddy who did that all the time.

Highly popular at my store.

We did a lot of...creative cooking to break up the monotony of burgers for lunch every day.

 

[TomN]

I don't know. I admit to trying it once. Tasted fine. I'm just wondering if a lot of people do this.

Take a hint from the military my friend.... don't ask, don't tell!

 

[indyninja]

I like Wendys. good food. good price.

 

[rhino]

Wendy's rules the top of the chain for fast food burgers and beats a lot of "sit-down" restaurants as well. The fact that they use fresh (i.e. non-frozen) burger patties is a huge reason for that and people really can tell the difference.

I had Wendy's today. I hope this acquisition does not result in any adverse changes to the products!

The Wendy's where I live also has the best (fastest) drive-through service of any fast food in town). You pay at window #1, and I've rarely waited more than 30 seconds at window #2 for my order. Given that they assemble that after you order, it makes me wonder how they can be so fast!

Anyone remember the kick-a** apple dumplings they had back in the mid 1980s? Those were AWESOME. My sister had a friend who used to buy one and a frosty and mix 'em together.