{"id":142775,"date":"2026-02-04T01:55:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/142775\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T01:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:55:19","slug":"open-52-years-jacksonvilles-first-wendys-restaurant-closes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/142775\/","title":{"rendered":"Open 52 years, Jacksonville’s first Wendy’s restaurant closes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open for more than 50 years, Jacksonville\u2019s first Wendy\u2019s restaurant<\/a> has closed.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks,\u00a0the nation\u2019s No. 2 fast-food burger chain closed its location at 3910 University Blvd.\u00a0W., where it had\u00a0operated\u00a0since January 1974.<\/p>\n

The restaurant is no longer listed on Wendy\u2019s website<\/a>, and a state database of restaurant licenses shows that the location is closed.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the Wendy’s at 3910 University Blvd. W. closed. Opened more than 50 years ago, the location was the first Wendy’s in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Less than a decade ago, in 2017, the restaurant\u2019s original building was demolished\u00a0and replaced with a new building featuring the chain\u2019s\u00a0more modern design.<\/p>\n

Located near the intersection with Powers Avenue, the Wendy\u2019s restaurant\u00a0shared the block with other longtime favorites KFC\u00a0and\u00a0Woody\u2019s Bar-B-Q and\u00a0relative newcomers Chick-fil-A<\/a>\u00a0and Chipotle Mexican Grill<\/a>, both of which opened in 2021.<\/p>\n

Coming soon: 26 restaurants are in the works in Jacksonville in 2026. See our list<\/a><\/p>\n

More restaurant news: Sign up for Dining Notes, our free weekly newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

Other Wendy\u2019s locations that have closed in Jacksonville<\/p>\n

Owned\u00a0by Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Wen South LLC, the closure follows two others in the last year for the franchise\u00a0operator:\u00a012911\u00a0Atlantic\u00a0Blvd.\u00a0and\u00a07102\u00a0Bonneval\u00a0Road. And in 2022, Wen South closed locations at 14447 Beach Blvd. and 4907 Big Island Drive, according to state records.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville\u2019s first Wendy\u2019s restaurants: A look back at the 1974 openings<\/p>\n

When it\u00a0debuted in January 1974, the restaurant was the first of four Jacksonville\u00a0Wendy\u2019s\u00a0locations to open that year, including\u00a0restaurants at\u00a0Main and Monroe (April), Cassat and Post (June) and Five Points\u00a0(November).<\/p>\n

Also closing: Popular St. Johns Town Center restaurant is closing after 15 years<\/a><\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An ad for the grand opening of a Wendy’s restaurant in The Florida Times-Union on April 7, 1974.<\/p>\n

In a Jan. 19, 1974, ad in the Times-Union, Wendy\u2019s introduced itself to Jacksonville diners: \u201cWendy\u2019s would like to get to\u00a0know\u00a0you\u00a0\u2013 and\u00a0we\u2019d\u00a0like you to get to know the good flavor of Wendy\u2019s\u00a0Old Fashioned\u00a0Hamburgers. Every Wendy\u2019s hamburger is made of 100% pure beef\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0strictly fresh, never frozen. Each one is custom made to your order with your choice of catsup, onion, mustard, pickle, or relish. Wendy\u2019s hamburgers are never pre-cooked, or pre-wrapped.\u201d<\/p>\n

That first restaurant included a \u201cdrive in window for fast service,\u201d read the ad, which included coupons for some of the chain\u2019s famous offering: Wendy\u2019s\u00a0Single\u00a0Hamburger, Frosty,\u00a0French Fries and its Secret Recipe Chili.<\/p>\n

At each of the chain\u2019s grand openings in Jacksonville that year, the first customers received a free silver dollar.<\/p>\n

How many Wendy\u2019s restaurants still operate in Northeast Florida?<\/p>\n

With the closing of the University Boulevard West location, Wendy’s continues to operate 27 restaurants in Duval County, eight in St. Johns, two in Nassau and six in Clay, according to state records.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Wendy’s restaurant closes after more than 50 years<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open for more than 50 years, Jacksonville\u2019s first Wendy\u2019s restaurant has closed. In recent weeks,\u00a0the nation\u2019s No. 2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,5221,69251,69250],"class_list":{"0":"post-142775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-restaurant","12":"tag-wendys-hamburger","13":"tag-wendys-locations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}