A Portsmouth, Ohio-based franchise has purchased nearly 20 Wendy's restaurants in and around Charleston and Huntington.
Schmidt Family Restaurant Group recently acquired 25 Wendy's locations from the chain's corporate system, including three in Ohio and four in Kentucky. Schmidt Marketing Director Stacie Staker said the purchase is the largest single acquisition the company has made - more than doubling the number of restaurants it owns.
The purchase came shortly after Wendy's corporate system closed two locations it owned in Charleston - at 6303 MacCorkle Ave. and 100 Patrick Street Plaza.
"They were under-performing," said Bob Bertini, senior director of communications at the Wendy's Company. "Those two locations were not meeting our sales expectations."
Bertini added that all the managers and crew members at the closed restaurants were "given an opportunity to work at other Wendy's locations in the area."
Prior to Schmidt's purchase, the franchise owned 14 restaurants across West Virginia and Ohio, including four Buffalo Wild Wings locations, according to Staker.
Its founder, Scott Schmidt, has worked with Wendy's for more than 40 years. In 2013, he was given a Wendy's Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award. His son, Justin, is now president of the franchise.
Staker said the restaurant group is strongly committed to capital investment, with plans to remodel several of the recently purchased locations in upcoming years.
The bulk purchase comes after an announcement the Wendy's Company made earlier this year of its plans to sell about 540 company-owned restaurants in different U.S. markets.
"Our intention is to decrease our company restaurant ownership position to 5 percent of our system, or approximately 315 restaurants," Bertini said.
It's believed those efforts will help the company drive growth by putting more locations in the hands of successful franchise operators.
With support from its franchise partners, "we plan to re-image more than 60 percent of Wendy's North America restaurant system by 2020, and open, excluding closures, up to 1,000 new builds," Bertini said.
Reach Elaina Sauber at
elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com,
304-348-3051 or follow
@ElainaSauber on Twitter.