Thomas Sums Up Simple Philosophy `Well Done’ Espouses Honesty, Integrity And Teamwork

R. David Thomas is the founder and senior chairman of a multibillion-dollar corporation. You would expect him to be whisked off by chauffeured limousine after a quick visit to one of his branch offices.

But this is Dave Thomas, and this is an outlet of the Wendy’s fast-food chain he founded, and it seems to take him forever to make it to his chartered bus because he just has to say hello to every carload of customers in the drive-through lane.

And they just have to say hello to him. Dave Thomas doesn’t have customers; he has fans.

“Dave, I want to thank you for developing this because if you didn’t, I wouldn’t be eating it,” said Joe Moylin from Fort Lauderdale, who spends several minutes extolling Thomas’ burgers while Thomas talks with reporters.

“He is not my cousin,” Thomas assured the reporter. Twice.

“Dave! I love you!” a woman screamed from her car.

The whole world seems to love Thomas, mostly because of those unforgettable Wendy’s commercials in which he stars. But in person, the soft-spoken, slightly jowly businessman still gives you the feeling that he’s your Uncle Dave taking you out for a hamburger. Looking at a publicity shot of Thomas, posing with a mop and bucket, you almost believe he’s some guy working the closing shift at the Wendy’s down the street.

The shot appears on the back of “Well Done! The Common Guy’s Guide to Everyday Success” (Zondervan Publishing House, $18.99), Thomas’ second volume of musings on how he did it. He met reporters at the restaurant one morning recently.

The book urges business owners to make values such as honesty, integrity and teamwork part of the bottom line. It profiles people Thomas said have inspired him in his career and personal life.

Profits from “Well Done!” will benefit the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which Thomas formed in 1992 to raise public awareness of the need for adoption. An adopted child himself, he’s also urging businesses to give adoption benefits to their workers. At Wendy’s, eligible employees get paid leave and up to $4,000 when they adopt a child, or up to $6,000 when they adopt a special-needs child.

“It seems so simple,” Thomas said. “It’s kind of like a nobrainer. When a company has a maternity leave, just add adoption.”

Success also has been simple for Thomas, although it hasn’t been easy. He was fired from his first two jobs and dropped out of high school (finally getting his equivalency diploma in Fort Lauderdale last year). He went against industry advice when he launched the Wendy’s chain 25 years ago, ignoring the conventional wisdom that the hamburger business was overcrowded.

“The big thing is you have to like what you do,” Thomas said. “You focus, just make up your mind that you’re going to be successful.”

Thomas said that perspective would probably still work for him if he were starting out today. The key is “if you have a philosophy of `One customer at a time.’ We may want to build 4,000 or 5,000 restaurants, but we still serve one customer at a time.”