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Wendy's Bought by Arby's: Let's Talk Burger Joints
EvilBadman
DO NOT TRUST THIS MANRegistered User regular
DO NOT TRUST THIS MANRegistered User regular
http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/04/arbys_owner_buying_wendys_for.html
I didn't know Wendy's was this bad off, and I love the damn chain. Anyone else kind of bummed for the remnants of the Thomas family?
Link wrote:COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ After two past rejections, the owner of Arby's shaved roast beef sandwich restaurants is buying Wendy's, the fast-food chain famous for its made-to-order square hamburgers and chocolate Frosty dessert, for around $2 billion.
Triarc Companies Inc., which is owned by billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, said Thursday it will pay about $2.34 billion in an all-stock deal for the nation's third-largest hamburger chain started in 1969 by Dave Thomas. Wendy's had rejected at least two buyout offers from Triarc.
Thomas' daughter Pam Thomas Farber 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," said Farber, 53.
If her father were alive to hear news of the buyout, "he would not be amused," she said.
Thomas became a household face when he began pitching his burgers and fries in television commercials in 1989.
Wendy's International Inc. deferred comment to Triarc, which had nothing further to say right away.
Triarc 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.
Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of the year, shareholders at Wendy's 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.
The Wendy's board has been studying strategic alternatives since early last year, and expenses related to that contributed to the company's 72 percent drop in first-quarter earning announced Thursday.
Wendy's said its profits totaled $4.1 million, or 5 cents, a share for the quarter ended March 30 compared with a profit of $14.7 million, or 15 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue was down slightly to $513 million from $522 million a year ago.
Wendy's stock is well off its high for the past year of $42.22 that it reached shortly after the committee began its work in the summer. It fell 3 cents to $25.39 in early trading Thursday.
Sales have slid in a struggling economy that has hurt other restaurant chains, too.
The deal caps two chaotic years for Wendy's in which it has sold or spun off operations, slashed its corporate staff and had its wholesome image tarnished by a woman who falsely claimed she found part of a finger in her chili.
Triarc said it will also change its name to include the Wendy's name.
Pushed by activist shareholders, Wendy's spun off its Tim Hortons coffee-and-doughnut chain and sold its money-losing Baja Fresh Mexican Grill. Chairman and CEO Jack Schuessler abruptly retired in March 2006, months after a woman and her husband were sentenced to prison for extortion for their plot in March 2005 to plant part of a human finger in a bowl of chili at a San Jose, Calif., Wendy's restaurant and claiming it was served to her.
Farber said the family didn't think much of Peltz' and Triarc's tactics.
"They came after them (Wendy's) and came after them and came after them. They spun Tim Hortons off, they did this, they did that. They did everything they asked but it wasn't enough."
Farber said she had just gotten off the phone with her sister Wendy, 46, the company's namesake.
"She's feeling horrible. She just is devastated," Farber said.
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."
Peltz, who runs the Trian Fund, and his allies own 9.8 percent of Wendy's stock. Arby's has more than 3,000 restaurants.
He had argued in a letter to Wendy's chairman James Pickett that Triac would be a natural buyer of Wendy's. Peltz gained three seats on the company's board last year.
Thomas, who died in 2002, opened his first restaurant in a former steakhouse on a cold, snowy Saturday in downtown Columbus on Nov. 15, 1969. He named the chain after his 8-year-old daughter Melinda Lou _ nicknamed Wendy by her siblings.
The smiling Thomas, always wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and red tie, touted the virtues of fast food in humorous ads, often featuring big-name stars such as bluesman B.B. King and soap opera queen Susan Lucci. He appeared in more than 800 ads.
Wendy's, based in suburban Dublin, operates about 6,600 restaurants in the United States and abroad. It trails McDonald's and Burger King Holdings Inc. in the burger business.
I didn't know Wendy's was this bad off, and I love the damn chain. Anyone else kind of bummed for the remnants of the Thomas family?
XBL- Evil Badman; Steam- EvilBadman; Twitter - EvilBadmanI should note that Badman is fucking awesome
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Arby's on the other hand- their menu is full of awesome.
Simpson's quote 2: If I can keep down Arby's, I can keep down you!
Honestly, I had no idea Arby's had this much capital. To me, this is like White Castle buying McDonalds... or Radioshack buying Best Buy.
Do you mean memorium? Or are you being all "Secret of My Success" meta?
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
Yea, if Wendy's is the 3rd biggest chain, how did Arby's get the upper hand?
I actually like both, but there are no Arbys here in North VA.
I like words that sort of sound the same but have vastly different meanings.
Wendy's is the 3rd biggest hamburger chain, Subway is actually the most numerous restaurant in the world (at least it became that 4 or 5 years ago when I was working there).
Dear god no.
This is you joking, right? You're joking?
Like, you don't seriously find that glorified bologna that Arby's slaps on their flavorless bread-muffs to be appetizing, right?
Because Wendy's has the best fries in the history of ever. Especially when dipped in their Frostys.
What do you call the bacanator?
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I don't eat much fast food, but when I do it is usually Wendy's, so this is a marginally sad day today. At least I can go and mourn tonight over a frosty and a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger. So long, and thanks for all the fries.
You eilitist bastard... and where's your flag pin??
Finally, an add campaign that speaks to me.
I really, really like Arby's sauce. It makes the faux-beef tasty.
And I am sorry but unseasoned fries that are basically like BK are not the best fries!
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I hate seasoned fries. Wendys is confident enough in the taste of their deep-fried potatoes that they need garnish it with but a little salt. Other fries hide behind a curtain of overly salty seasoning like a skittish waif behind an excess of makeup.
A deep fried potato is a boring taste by itself though.
I could see why you'd prefer it unseasoned if you enjoy lacing your shakes with them, however...
[tiny]fatty[/tiny]
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This is not an option for debate
Truth.org
Also, Burger King has the best burgers and chicken sandwiches out of any fast food place. And onion rings.
Are you saying that soon enough, if I want a baked potato at 3am, I might have to make it myself?
Edit - I wasn't aware anyone actually thought Burger King was good. It's horribly unpopular around here (Southern California) and it mostly has something to do with the food being shitty.
The kings of the grill in my part of the world are MickeyD's, Sonic, and Whataburger (<3). The Mexican telephone company is pretty popular too. Jack in the Crack is just below Booger King and just above Wendy's. If I had to pick between the three, I'd skip a meal.
If they touch Wendy's fries, I'll be crushed. When I used to work near a Wendy's, I would often go in and just order fries, because dammit they're the best.
Dammit, where's a Wendy's around here? I need Wendy's fries.
It really does confuse me though, because I'm only familiar with failing Arby's restaurants and haven't seen one that's been popular. The ones I've been to have always been dirty enough to prevent me from returning, and their lobbies have been entirely empty. Maybe the locations held by Triarc are better...they have to be, right?
I tend to season my food lightly, unless I'm making something where proper seasoning is the entire point.
And Frosty + fries is something doesn't make sense until you try it.
I don't even see how this is an issue... Wendey's fries are VASTLY superior to anything else on the market... especially the potato cakes or curley fries at Arby's... although, Arby's does have jalopaneo poppers... which are delicious in that they are poppers, but on a list of popper awesomness, they are way down it.
On a side note... I once delivered a pizza to Dave Thomas's daughter, Wendy, when I lived in Ohio.
She did not look as advertised.
Did you score?
I felt like I had to try it because it seemed like it was challenging me. It wasn't even tasty in a,"I love chocolate...but I can't eat it, 'cause I'll get fat" kind of way. It was just grease and meat and bad, rubbery bacon.
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Part of it could just be that I'm not a fry-guy. I make exceptions for seasoned or steak fries with some ketchup, but skinny fries have no real appeal for me.
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Also I will be happy if those stupid commercials never appear again.
[strike]It's awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than fast food, it's Wendy's![/strike]DIE
step 1: get a plstic bag
step 2: get some meat
step 3: get some grease. The preferred source is a cardboard box full of it that has been sitting on the back steps of a Miami restaurant for two weeks and then shipped via box-car filled with hobos in need of somewhere to urinate for freshness.
step 4: get ketchup.
step 5: hahaha this isn't bacon at all
step 6: Throw everything in the plastic bag. Ratios: 9 ketchup 1 everything else.
step 7: profit.
I mean doesn't Burger King get sold every other year
I owned it for Feb-April of '97