Wendy’s is one of the most popular and biggest American fast-food chains. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in the year 1969 by R. David Thomas.
You can find your favorite fast food joints while traveling, especially in Europe. But if you have noticed, one most famous brand which is hard to find is “Wendy’s.” That’s right; you might miss your frosty during your international travels.
Let’s look inside first
The expansion of Wendy’s in Europe was started by opening a restaurant in Munich. After this, they added around six more restaurants in the Benelux, which includes Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. But in the year 1988, a man named Raymond Warrens opened a restaurant in ‘Goes,’ which is a city in the Netherlands.
In the year 1995, Wendy’s was no longer active in the Benelux, and that was the time when Raymon Warrens tried to take his chance. He trademarked the brand “Wendy’s” for the Benelux, which was allowed due to the inactivity. Because of this, Wendy’s are not able to open any restaurant in Benelux since then, and from this moment on, Wendy’s has been in a legal war with Dutch Wendy’s and is trying hard to find a loophole which might allow them to establish restaurants in the Benelux.
So why not the whole of Europe?
Yes, it’s true to wonder: “There’s a lot of Europe still left for Wendy’s, so why would the Benelux matter?”
The real reason why Wendy’s could not win the rights to open any restaurant in Europe was because of Benelux. When Wendy’s again tried to gain rights in the year 2013, they failed even after hiring the best lawyers.
One independent Dutch snack bar owner changed his restaurant’s name to Wendy’s when the original one was shut down, and soon it became a famous chain all-over Benelux. So basically, Wendy’s can not establish any restaurants in Europe just because of a single restaurant owner of a town in the Netherlands.
Conclusion
The points mentioned above could be the reason why there are no Wendy’s in Europe. Even after being one of the top-selling American fast-food chains, it could not expand in Europe. Still, it happened recently that the Director of Wendy’s Corporate Communications stated that they are trying to establish in many countries over the last four decades as their brand has entered several different international markets. Still, they later exited the area due to a variety of business reasons. They will keep on trying to expand their brand in Europe and with many other international markets as they continue to expand the brand globally.
So, we hope the brand gets expanded across Europe and globally so that like other American famous food chains, we can also experience the most famous Wendy’s fast food in Europe.
