Wendy's looking for new sites around the country

Wendy's restaurant on East Tamaki Rd, Otara. Photo / Supplied

Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers is in expansion mode having worked with Jones Lang LaSalle over the past three years to secure a number of potential sites across the country.

Chris Beasleigh, retail broker at Jones Lang LaSalle, says Wendy's search for sites for new restaurants has drawn significant interest from landowners looking to divest their holdings after the recent property downturn.

"After careful consideration, applying a rigorous selection criteria, 15 towns and cities from Whangarei to Dunedin have been identified for potential restaurants with sites still being selected," Beasleigh says.

"With the closure of so many businesses around New Zealand, there are some companies benefiting from a tough economy. Wendy's plans to double store numbers from 14 to almost 30 by 2015 and create at least 200 new jobs over the next nine months for both restaurant staff and specialist roles like supply chain management and marketing."

Danielle Lendich, Wendy's chief executive, says the restaurant chain is looking for sites in Manurewa, Mangere, New Lynn, Glenfield, North Shore, Whangarei, Hamilton East, Napier, Hastings, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Christchurch, Lower Hutt, Johnsonville, Porirua and in the centre of Wellington as well as on the outskirts of town where sites have drive-though capabilities.

"We typically need a site of around 2000sq m with good access for both left and right turning in and out," Lendich says.

"A corner site is always good for profile and usually allows for more flexible access. We prefer standalone buildings that we design and build on a high visibility site and drive-through capability is a must. We would normally want to locate a restaurant within a population catchment of at least 40,000 but that does depend on the number of vehicles passing the site - preferably around 25,000 per day.

"If it is a lease situation, we negotiate a lease and landlord contribution for the building and we manage the building process on behalf of landlords so it is hassle-free for them."

Lendich says trucks must be able to access the site easily because each restaurant has at least five deliveries a week to ensure that only the freshest food is served to customers. The logistics of rubbish management and service vehicles must also be considered.

"For example, we are interested in central city stores in Wellington but need rubbish and delivery access and the ability to add air conditioning and extraction systems."

A Rotorua Wendy's restaurant opened in August and another one was being built on the Kapiti Coast. Two more sites were going through the resource consent process.

"There is also a concerted effort to gradually refurbish existing stores with the Otara restaurant reopened in September after a $1.5 million makeover."

Lendich says the company suffered a major setback when its new and hugely successful Christchurch restaurant was written off due to the February earthquake.

"Nobody has set foot in the restaurant since the quake. It was our first foray into the South Island and the store was smashing all previous sales records for us. Clearly there is a huge demand for Wendy's products in the Canterbury area."

Lendich says the company is actively pursuing a number of options with Jones Lang LaSalle for new sites in Christchurch.

Fay Stretch, Wendy's marketing manager, says the company's high delivery rates for its fresh food products make easy access to its properties of paramount importance when selecting new sites for restaurants.

"Serving fresh beef in all our hamburgers is a costly exercise because we don't have the benefit of freezing meat when beef prices are low, like our competitors," says Stretch.

"In addition to the beef, our buns and vegetables are delivered to each store on an almost daily basis. To maintain the freshness and for speed of delivery, more and more of the ingredients are being sourced locally as the company expands and volumes increase."

The Rugby World Cup was a busy time with a restaurant close to Eden Park in Auckland but the company was re-focusing on long-term growth and development to increase return to New Zealand franchise holders and to increase job opportunities.