US fast food chain Wendy's plans for 'hundreds' of restaurants in Australia

US fast food chain Wendy's plans to open "hundreds" of restaurants in Australia, with talks with prospective franchisee holders to begin this week.

Wendy's chief development officer Abigail Pringle told Nine newspaper The Australian Financial Review she is about to start speaking with prospective master franchisee holders about models for establishing the restaurants, including buying land for them.

"We believe Australia is a lucrative market for long-term growth. We think that the Australian market could be hundreds of restaurants," Pringle said.

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Pringle said the company had to be careful about the timeline of its Australian rollout because it needed to ensure it found "the right partner".

"But we think that we can have hundreds of restaurants in the market over time," she said.

Wendy's has grown enormously since it was founded by Dave Thomas in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio.

It is now in 30 countries, including Australia's neighbour, New Zealand.

The chain's 1000th international restaurant opened in Croydon, London in November 2021, while its 7000th restaurant opened in Dacula, Georgia in March 2022.

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