Is Australia Big Enough To Have Two Wendy’s?
MELBOURNE, Australia — Call it a tale of two Wendy’s. One is an American fast-food chain, known for the pigtailed girl on its logo and its square hamburger patties on circular buns. The other, Wendy’s Milk Bar, slings soft-serve ice cream, hot dogs and “supashakes” in Australian shopping malls.
Reports that the American company is considering an Australian presence have prompted speculation of a quarrel.
Abigail Pringle, the president of the American Wendy’s, told the Australian Financial Review recently that she intended to meet virtually with prospective franchisees in Australia and hoped to establish outlets across the country.
There are about 7,000 Wendy’s hamburger restaurants worldwide. Company officials previously said they plan to increase the number to 8,500 by 2025.
“We think that the Australian market could be hundreds of restaurants,” Ms. Pringle said.
But would the companies be forced to fight for the right to their name? Another American fast-food chain faced similar issues.
Since 1971, Burger King outlets in Australia have had the familiar color scheme, and even the same logo design. But the company’s franchisee operates under the moniker “Hungry Jack’s,” in part for its founder, the Australian billionaire Jack Cowin.
“When Burger King thought to operate in Australia, someone had a registered trademark that really gave them the monopoly to the name Burger King,” said Andrew Terry, a professor at the University of Sydney Business School.
“The only option for Burger King was to buy the proprietor of that trademark out,” in this case, the owner of a small to-go restaurant in the city of Adelaide, “or else, as they chose to do, to operate under another name,” he said.
Both Wendy’s have longstanding registered trademarks in Australia, and both had recently been renewed, said Blair Beven, an intellectual property lawyer in Sydney.
It was therefore likely that the Australian trademarks office had highlighted the possibility of confusion in the marketplace, requiring either further evidence or a letter of consent from the other party, Mr. Beven said.
“I think that there has probably already been a deal done, and that Wendy’s Australia has already acknowledged Wendy’s U.S. trademark rights here in Australia and allowed the coexistence,” he said.
So long as the Australian Wendy’s sticks to ice cream and hot dogs, and the American Wendy’s offers burgers and fries, there would be little issue, Mr. Beven said. Neither company responded to a request for comment.
The American Wendy’s might still face pushback from local consumers, especially if Australian franchisees felt they were getting a bad deal, Mr. Terry said. “Nothing drives the patriotism of the Australians like the big boys from overseas coming in and riding roughshod over everything,” he said.
Naming rights aside, the Australian market was still harder to break into than it might appear. “A lot of these companies come in thinking Australia is the 51st state of the United States, because we speak the same language,” Mr. Cowin recently told the Australian Financial Review. “It’s going to be tough for anyone starting from scratch.”