Wendy's

1969-1970


The drawing in the logo is a stylized portrait of Melinda-Lou "Wendy" Thomas, R. David Thomas's daughter, after whom he named the restaurants. This is the first logo that was only used for the first restaurant.

1970-1976


Second logo, similar to the first one, but added the slogan "Quality Is Our Recipe". Introduced after opening the second restaurant, which introduced the drive-thru pick-up window.

1976-1978


In 1976, Wendy was re-drawn and the font for the tagline "Old Fashioned Hamburgers" was modified. The swirls became detached from the portrait of Wendy. However, signage still used the illustration from the previous logos.

1978-1983


In 1978, the logo was given a yellow background for the outside and a red beveled rectangle was given for the name Wendy's and the portrait of Wendy. Again, signage still used the pre-1976 illustration. It references the facade of yellow rectangular panels with outlined red beveled rectangles. It is still in use at a small number of locations, regardless of design updates.

1983-2013
The fifth and longest-lived Wendy's logo introduced in early 1983. It had a jar-shaped frame with the mascot Wendy centered at the top, and the frame referenced the chain's square hamburgers and architecture of the contoured mansard-style restaurants (introduced in 1982). The name "Wendy's" and its tagline "Old Fashioned Hamburgers" traded places and swapped the colors. This logo was also the only logo to use the illustration of Wendy since the 1976 logo for signage. This logo was also used on packaging and opaque cups until late 2011, but continued to be used on napkins, hot coffee cups, and cup lids for opaque cups until February 25, 2013. This logo and its variants still exist at more than 90% of the restaurants, and is still current in some countries. The first advertising slogan for this logo was "You're Wendy's kind of people", which was continued from the previous logo.

Variants
The shorthand logo without the tagline "Old Fashioned Hamburgers", used as the secondary logo. This variant is primarily used during advertising and as landmarking signs. It was used on translucent plastic cups for Frosties and signature beverages from early 2007 until late 2011, but appeared Coca-Cola Freestyle labeled cups from 2011 until February 25, 2013.



The logo used separately by its name, as the tertiary logo. It appears on the roof of the individual restaurants (with the mascot variant on the right side of it) and on service signs. The red lettering for storefronts first rolled out in the 1990s. It also appears on the translucent covers of plastic salad bowls and cream-colored spoons. From late 2011 until February 25th, 2013, it appeared on some packages and on one side of the cups with the phrase "Quality (Real) Food Made Fresh Is Our Recipe". It remained on the American website until March 1, 2013.


 * Note that the word "Real" in parentheses indicates that it is used on translucent cups, while opaque ones lack the word "Real".

The logo used separately as an illustration of the chain's mascot Wendy, also as the tertiary logo. This variant always carries the slogan "Quality Is Our Recipe". It appears on the roof of the individual restaurants (with the name variant on the left side of it). An animated version of this variant was seen on the commercials that aired between early 2008 and late 2009 with the slogan "It's waaaay better than fast food. It's Wendy's." From late 2011 until February 25, 2013, it appeared on packaging (aside from the name variant) and on one side of the cups (opposite of the name variant) with variants of "Quality Is Our Recipe", depending upon the packages and sizes of the cups. This variant also appeared on the corporate logo for The Wendy's Company. It remained on Wendy's American brand website and on its Facebook and Twitter pages and YouTube channel until March 1, 2013.

2013-present
On October 11, 2012, the chain launched a new logo which premiered on February 25, 2013 (originally scheduled for March) to phase out the longest-running logo used since 1983. Wendy now has her head and braids peeking out of the circle with her shoulders no longer visible, the bangs have been restyled, the shading has been added to the hair and bows, and outlines around her eyes and lips are now thicker. The frame from the previous logo is removed, and is now simply as the mascot Wendy and the name Wendy's, though the positioning is similar. The font has changed from the classic "Western-like" font (similar to Egyptienne) to a handwritten script font (similar to Marker Felt), and only the "W" remains in uppercase, as well as the text became red and the background remained white. The previous logos had all letters uppercase, except for the "N". The "Old Fashioned Hamburgers" tagline and the black swirls have been removed, as well as doing away with the yellow that was one of their signature colors prior to this logo. The "Quality Is Our Recipe" slogan has been removed, although it is still their slogan. The mascot's face in this logo bears a heavier resemblance to Wendy Thomas's adulthood from reality and less cartoon-like. This logo has been introduced after the chain introduced four new restaurant designs in mid-2011, including "Ultra Modern" (with red blade), "Urban" (with red tube), "Contemporary" (with rectangular prism), and "Traditional" (with stone tower and silver waves). Earlier restaurants with the new designs used the previous logo. New and remodeled restaurants now carry this logo. The only reference to the previous logo is for signage, but no longer has the jar neck surrounding Wendy. However, certain franchised restaurants may update to this logo without modernizing the layout of the buildings. A Kids' Meal version of this logo will replace the one (introduced in 2010) that was based from the previous logo, but with "Kids' Meal" in place of "Wendy's", whereas it will be read as the mascot Wendy (for Wendy's) and then "Kids' Meal". This logo currently carries the slogan "Now that's better" from the previous logo.