Another one bites the dust Wendy’s closes shop today

Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas and his line of popular food products are waving Saipan goodbye.

In what appears to be a strong indication that the island’s economy has been persistently rallying weakly, international food chain Wendy’s Restaurant is closing its doors to Saipan customers beginning today.

Restaurant insiders said the local company which holds the Saipan franchise for Wendy’s is scheduled to file bankruptcy at the United States federal court within the week.

Wendy’s International has acknowledged that there is no assurance that such growth will occur or that international operations will be profitable although it has developed the support structure required for international growth.

Company officials were not immediately available to comment on the reported closure of the internationally known fast food chain beginning today, but employees confirmed the restaurant will be closed from today on.

The closure may displace at least 26 restaurant employees, seven of whom are overseas contract workers. “It is sad because we might be jobless during the holidays,” said one employee who asked not to be identified.

The same employee also disclosed they were shocked to hear the sad news from the management which informed them of the restaurant’s closure only on Saturday afternoon, or at least a day and a half before Monday’s scheduled shutdown.

Wendy’s has 192 restaurants in the Asia-Pacific Region, including the Saipan franchise. Four of which are in Guam; five in Hawaii; 97 in Japan; 27 in Indonesia; 11 in New Zealand and 47 in the Philippines.

The popular international chain has 365 restaurants throughout the world, excluding 4,964 in the mainland United States, 300 in Canada and about 1,866 Tim Horton’s restaurants.

Wendy’s Saipan was last year dragged to the court by a Japanese company for its alleged inability to pay rent at its leased property along Beach Road in Garapan.

Since the effects of Asian financial upheavals started fanning towards the Northern Marianas, Wendy’s has taken painful cuts in operating expenses as it shortened store hours while eliminating breakfast menus.

Analysts said the fast food restaurant industry is affected by changes in international, national, regional, and local economic conditions, consumer preferences and spending patterns, demographic trends, consumer perceptions of food safety, weather, traffic patterns and the type, number and location of competing restaurants.

Cash registers for the Saipan branch has not been as busy as they were used to, reportedly resulting to financial losses. But no one from the company would want to make a comment on the restaurant’s financial condition.

The restaurant’s closure came barely a year after a popular Filipino fast food restaurant was established in the Northern Marianas, although industry analysts said entry of Jollibee into the Saipan market has too little effect on the performance of Wendy’s.

In fact, Wendy’s International, Inc. has acknowledged that the quick-service restaurant industry is intensely competitive with respect to price, service, location, personnel and type and quality of food. Wendy’s International also anticipates that intense competition will continue to focus on pricing.

Wendy’s International, Inc. is one of the world’s largest restaurant operating and franchising companies, with $7.1 billion in 1999 system wide sales and two quality brands – Wendy’s and Tim Hortons.

Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas and is the third largest quick-service hamburger chain in the world with more than 5,600 restaurants in the United States, Canada and international markets.