Wimpy (brand)
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| Wholly owned subsidiary | |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Founded |
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| Founder |
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| Products | Fast Food (hamburgers • chicken • french fries) |
| Parent | Famous Brands Limited, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Website | UK website, South African Website |
Wimpy is the brand name of a multinational chain of fast food restaurants that is currently headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Originally called Wimpy Grills, the Wimpy brand was created in 1934 by Edward Gold when he opened his first location in Bloomington, Indiana. The name was inspired by the character of J. Wellington Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons created by E. C. Segar. Although the Wimpy name is most closely identified with the city of Chicago, Gold did not open his first Chicago area location until 2 years later in 1936 and after opening units in five other Midwestern cities. By 1947, the Chicago Tribune reported that the chain had 26 units and expected to sell 8 million hamburgers annually in the Chicago area.
According to a 1978 Chicago Tribune article, Gold's company Wimpy Grills Inc. of Chicago had a maximum of 25 locations in the United States at its height but only seven locations remained at the time of his death in 1977. According to the Chicago Tribune, when Gold died in 1978, the chain vanished within the United States because no one had purchased the rights and trademark to the Wimpy name from Gold's estate.
In 1954, Gold sold a licence to J. Lyons and Co to use the Wimpy name in the United Kingdom. Subsequently, in 1957, Wimpy Grills Inc. of Chicago formed a joint company with Lyons called Wimpy's International Inc, based in Chicago, to operate Wimpy Grills in the rest of the world. The joint company eventually grew to 1,500 locations and Gold later sold his share to Lyons prior to his death. After obtaining full control of the international licensing outside of the United States, Lyons and its successors handled global franchising through their UK-based subsidiary Wimpy International Ltd. until Wimpy UK became a subsidiary of South Africa-based Famous Brands in 2007.
Lyons obtained a licence to use the Wimpy brand in the United Kingdom from Edward Gold's Chicago-based Wimpy Grills, Inc. and, in 1954, the first "Wimpy Bar" Lyons was established at the Lyons Corner House in Coventry Street, London. Originally the bar was a special fast-food section within the more traditional Corner House restaurants, but the success soon led to the establishment of separate Wimpy restaurants serving only hamburger-based meals.
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Wikipedia