By Michael Freeman, Managing Editor
Harold Lipford sat and ate his No. 5 Ultimate Chicken Grill combo at Wendy’s, and he did not even have to drive across town to enjoy it.
A Wendy’s restaurant on Scottish Road, in front of Lowe’s Home Improvement and near Jack in the Box, opened for business Friday.
“I’m glad they’re on this side of town,” said Lipford, former assistant professor of education and retired ACU development officer. “I like Wendy’s.”
The new fast food restaurant marks the second Wendy’s in Abilene; the first is located on Southwest Drive.
A grand opening ceremony for the new Wendy’s is scheduled for May 2, when restaurant employees will give out door prizes to customers. Donations also will be raised for Big Brothers Big Sisters for every combo meal sold.
“We’re hoping – and I actually think we have – to pick up a lot of the college business,” said Michelle McFadden, general manager of Wendy’s. “We can fit a lot of college kids here.”
Forty wooden chairs and a padded bench fill the dining area. But plenty of seats are not the only incentive for students to eat at the new restaurant.
Students will receive a 10 percent discount on their orders if they show their student IDs, McFadden said.
The Wendy’s franchise has more than 6,000 locations worldwide, each selling its signature Old Fashioned hamburgers and Frosties. The restaurant recently introduced the Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty, a chocolate and vanilla blend with pieces of toffee candy, and the Frosty-cino Shake, a vanilla shake mixed with cocoa topped off with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Other popular menu items include the Spicy Chicken Sandwich, the Chicken BLT Salad and the Baconator burger.
With new hotels and developing neighborhoods being built nearby, as well as the Wal-Mart located on State Highway 351, McFadden said she expects business to go well.
“They’ve been telling us for years to build it,” McFadden said. “That’s what started the whole thing, people calling the 800-number and asking for one on the north side. It was the customers who started this building.”
Wendy’s opens at 10 a.m. every day, and the indoor dining area closes at 11 p.m., while the drive-through stays open until 2 a.m.
