Dave Thomas: An American Philantropist

Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas was an All American philanthropist as well as a most successful business man. Thomas was the founder and CEO of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, which became popular for its square patties. He is also known for personally appearing in eight hundred television commercials for the chain from 1989 to 2002, more than any other person not just in the fast food industry but in television history (Newsweek 1). He created such an atmosphere in these ads that much of the public began to believed he was a professional actor. Starting what would be his long business venture at only fifteen, Dave Thomas would change the face of America (Wikipedia 1).

“To Bob Garfield, My Favorite Critic,'' it read. ''Best wishes, Dave Thomas.'' Ira was right. This was a keeper. We put the book aside with a small collection of accumulated treasures. A few hours later Dave, generous Dave, died in his Florida home (Garfield 1).” Rex David Thomas was born in 1932 in the town of Atlantic City, New Jersey. He never knew either of his birth parents but was soon adopted by a couple who then soon moved to Indiana. He was raised in Indiana and lived like any normal boy of that time until the age of five (Wikipedia 1). Dave’s mother died when he was just five and spent much of his childhood moving from state to state with his father. High school came quick and Dave dropped out after only one year trying a variety of different jobs (Biography 1). He tried working as a golf caddy, paperboy, and soda fountain counter person but none seemed to fit him very well. It wasn‘t until he was fifteen when he found at job working at Hobby House in their current residence of Ft. Wayne. Dave‘s family decided to move from Ft. Wayne but Dave choose to stay because of the love he had for his new found occupation (MacArthur 3). Unfortunately just as things seemed to be going well he was drafted to the Korean War for almost a year. Upon his return he found his old waiting for him just as he left it at KFC. Because Dave was such a prominent employee, Phil Clauss founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, gave Dave an opportunity to try and turn around some of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants that were failing to produce sufficient income (Wikipedia 2). By 1968 a 35-year-old Thomas sold the franchises back to the headquarters for more than $1.5 million. It was then when he decided that he would open up his own his fast food establishment (3).

On November 15, 1969, he opened the first Wendy’s restaurant, named after his eight-year-old daughter, Melinda Lou, known only as Wendy. Wendy’s produced at an enormous rate growing to one thousand stores in just ten years. Its popularity was mainly generated through the use of square patties and the amount and choice of toppings provided (Newsweek 2). In 1982, Dave Thomas gave up command of day-to-day operations at Wendy’s. Four years later, after some minor business mistakes that had hurt the sales of Wendy’s, the company’s new president urged Thomas to take a more active role in the company (3). Thomas began to visit franchises and promote his hardworking, so-called “mop-bucket attitude (Garfeild 1).” “His surpassing good nature, of course, was precisely the quality that made him so suited to his role as TV spokesman for the company he founded (Garfeild 1).” In 1989, he took on an even more important role, as the company’s television spokesman making a whopping eight hundred clever and ever successful commercials (Newsweek 3). With his new series of commercials and “mop-bucket attitude” Dave Thomas became a household name (Sager 2). It was after this that people began to recognize that Dave Thomas was a major marketing reason for Wendy’s becoming the third largest and most successful fast food franchise in the country, behind Burger King number two, McDonalds number one, with more than six thousand locations (Wikipedia 3). Dave Thomas was not just a fast food entrepreneur, he also saved many