Wimpy

Infobox Company
name = Wimpy

type = Wholly owned subsidiary
parent = Famous Brands
industry = Restaurants
foundation = Coventry Street, London in 1954
founder = J. Lyons and Co
homepage = [http://www.wimpy.uk.com/ official UK site]
products = Fast Food (hamburgers•chicken•french fries)

Wimpy is the brand name of a chain of hamburger restaurants based in the United Kingdom. The restaurants were originally called Wimpy Bars and many people still refer to them by this name, despite the fact that the name "Wimpy Bar" was dropped in favour of "Wimpy" many years agoFact|date=July 2008. The current owners of the Wimpy brand operate in several countries under the name of Wimpy International.

History

The Wimpy brand was created in the 1930s. The name was inspired by the character of J. Wellington Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons created by Elzie Crisler Segar. Eddie Gold was running 12 restaurants by the early 1950s, when the concept of fast food came to the attention of the directors of J. Lyons and Co. Lyons licensed the brand for use in the United Kingdom 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. By the early 1970s the business had expanded to over a thousand restaurants in 23 countries.

In 1977 the business was acquired by United Biscuits. Wimpy was beginning to lose ground to McDonald's, who had opened their first UK restaurant in 1974 and so the new management of Wimpy began to streamline the business by converting some of the traditional "table service" restaurants to the "counter service" operation style of McDonald's. In 1989 the business was sold to Grand Metropolitan (now Diageo). Grand Metropolitan had acquired Burger King the previous year and they began to convert the "counter service" restaurants to Burger King restaurants. In 1990 the remaining 220 "table service" restaurants were purchased by a management buy-out backed by 3i. A second management buy-out occurred in 2002.

Although Wimpy has decreased in numbers in the United Kingdom, it is still found in some towns and cities and at the RoadChef motorway services and at Megabowl bowling alleys. However the branches at RoadChefs and Megabowl have a counter service as opposed to a table service format.

On 27 February 2007, Famous Brands, who owns the Wimpy franchise in South Africa, announced that it had acquired Wimpy UK. Having acquired the brand Famous Brands has re-branded Wimpy in the UK to bring it in line with Wimpy South Africa. The 'new' logo is actually one used by Wimpy UK from the 1960s until the 1980s. [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/56613941.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DViewImages%26k%3D2%26d%3DF590379F986873C90058FE794E6C0FC7284831B75F48EF45&imgrefurl=http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx%3Fmid%3D56613941%26epmid%3D1%26partner%3DGoogle&h=381&w=594&sz=45&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=tAnwJlYWkY2CpM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwimpy%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN]

Wimpy are said to be looking at a long term plan to bring the brand up to date and increase the number of units throughout the UK.Fact|date=August 2008

Wimpy have now taken their first steps into making all table service restaurants modern. They have signed a deal with Coca Cola, having transferred from the Pepsi Co. There is also a brand new menu available at Wimpy which is more extensive than the previous menu.

International

Wimpy opened in South Africa in Durban in 1967. The business was sold to Bakers SA Ltd in the late 1970s and later to the Steers Holdings Group. In 1976, Wimpy opened their first restaurant in Bogotá, Colombia. There are also branches trading as Wimpy in Germany where they preceded the U.S.based chains, Kuwait, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Beirut, Lebanon, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Wimpy used to have many branches in Egypt, it was the first international burger restaurant in Egypt, but it closed its business by 1998.

Wimpy had branches in New Zealand including Hamilton but have now closed except for one Rotorua store.

There are a few outlets in Ireland, most combined with petrol stations. It has an outlet in Urlingford, County Kilkenny, Ireland, which is the location of the rest stop for buses between Dublin and Cork; and one in Celbridge, County Kildare. Most are located in Petrogas (Applegreen) petrol stations, as they hold the master franchise. " [http://www.caterersearch.com/Companies/33925/wimpy-international-ltd.html Information on Wimpy's Franchise] ","Caterer Search". Retrieved on 2008-01-29.]

References in popular culture

* Wimpy was slyly mentioned as just one of a string of businesses, icons, and vignettes implicated in the Americanization of England, in the 1973 Genesis album, "Selling England by the Pound", most notably in the opening track "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight," in the line, "Chewing through your Wimpy dreams/they eat without a sound/digesting England by the pound."
* Wimpy was referenced in Jethro Tull's song "Up To Me" from the album "Aqualung"; "Take you to the cinema/and leave you in a Wimpy Bar/tell me that we've gone too far/well that's up to me"
* A scene in the movie "Gregory's Girl" took place at the now closed Cumbernauld branch.
* The Song "Better Off Dead", from Elton John's 1975 "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" album, is stated to be about "A Wimpy Bar" on the live recording of the album's performance, available on the 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition release.
* The X-Ray Spex, who were known for their criticism of artificial consumer culture, mention buying a rubber bun from a Wimpy Bar in their 1978 song "The Day the World Turned Dayglo".
* Stanley Moon (Dudley Moore), the lead character in Bedazzled, along with his love interest Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron) work at a Wimpy Bar in London. Stanley is a grill cook, while Margaret is the waitress.
* In season one, episode 6, of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004) after Dr. Lucien Sanchez (Matt Berry) gives Dr. Rick Dagless, M.D. (Matthew Holness) an enticing idea for dinner involving a poached egg in some soup, and a pork pie or sausage roll, Dagless responds with "I'll get a Wimpy," followed by Dr. Sanchez saying "Suit yourself, Dag."
*In the novel "Glue", by Irvine Welsh, the Wimpy is one of the common hang-outs of the teenage characters in the 1980s section.
*In Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity", a minor scene takes place in a Wimpy Bar.
*John Cooper Clarke's poem "Psycle Sluts Parts I & II" ends with the lines "or the burger joint around the bend, where the meals thank Christ are skimpy; for you that's how the world could end, not with a bang but a Wimpy."
*The chain is repeatedly referenced in John van de Ruit's Spud.
*InThe Young Ones Series 1, Episode 4, Mike returns home with a wimpy takeaway.
*In the BBC radio production of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", Arthur Dent asks if the universe ends not with a bang but with a Wimpy.
*In the 1967 film 'The Sorcerers', Ian Ogilvy's character enters a Wimpy Bar in London and says "give us a Wimpy please".
*Del Quant and Irene Richarson, the two main characters in the 1969 film 'Bronco Bullfrog', have a scene in a Wimpy Bar in the West End of London.
*On the 1971 Gentle Giant album Acquiring the Taste, at the start of the final track Plain Truth, the guitarist Gary Green can be heard to say 'Tell Frank to order me, er, two Wimpys and a portion of chips, will yer.'.
*John Lennon stated that on his 21st Birthday Paul McCartney bought him a "Wimpy and Coke"

References

External links

* [http://www.wimpy.uk.com/ Rebranded Wimpy UK]
* [http://www.wimpy.co.za/ Wimpy South Africa]
* [http://www.wimpy.com.co/ Wimpy Colombia]
* [http://www.franchise-opportunities-x.com/opportunity.php?business=93489855-Wimpy%20International/ Information about starting a Wimpy Franchise]
* [http://les.man.ac.uk/sa/Latin%20American%20Lives/link4.htm Restaurant in Chimaltenango, Guatemala]