Wetson's

Wetson's
Industry	Fast-food restaurants
Founded	1959; 65 years ago
Founder	Herbert Wetanson
Defunct	1975; 49 years ago
Fate	Closed
Successor	Dallas BBQ
Headquarters	New York, California, U.S
Number of locations	~70 (at its peak)
Products	Hamburgers

Wetson's was an American fast food hamburger chain that existed from 1959 to 1975. At its peak, Wetson's had approximately 70 locations in the greater New York metropolitan area.

Wetson's was known for its signature burger, the "Big W", as well as 15-cent burgers, 10-cent fries, and the slogans "Look for the Orange Circles" and "Buy a bagful",^[1] phrases similar to the McDonald's slogan "Look for the Golden Arches" and White Castle's "Buy 'em by the sack". Wetson's also had two clown mascots in the style of McDonald's Ronald McDonald, named Wetty (female) and Sonny (male).^[2] The "Big W" was similar to today's McDonald's Big Mac. Wetsons also sold breakfast sandwiches.

History

The Wetson's chain was started by Herbert (Herb) Wetanson. While on a road trip to San Bernardino, California, Herb happened to stop by the original McDonald's Hamburger Drive In restaurant, owned and operated by the McDonald brothers. Having grown up working in his father Carl Wetanson’s restaurants, Herb was drawn to this new and unique style of what would later become known as a "fast food" restaurant.

Upon arriving home from the military, Wetanson began scouting locations on Long Island for the first of his hamburger restaurants. Recognizing that the Levittown area of Long Island shared a similar post-war demographic to that of San Bernardino, he found a closed Mayflower coffee and donut shop in that town and, along with his younger brother Errol Wetanson, in 1959 at this location opened the first Wetson's. At its peak the Wetson's chain comprised over 70 restaurants.^[3]

Wetson's struggled against the large national hamburger chains McDonald's and Burger King when they entered the New York metropolitan area market in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This led in 1975 to Wetson's merging with the Nathan's Famous fast-food chain, the closing of 29 Wetson's locations,^[4] and the ultimate discontinuation of the Wetson's brand.^[5]^[6]

Since 2016 and as of 2022, the Wetson's trademark is owned by National Food Brands Marketing, Inc., of East Norwich, New York.^[7]

The Wetanson family eventually became founders of the New York City family-run restaurant chain Dallas BBQ, which is still in operation today with the three generations of the family including Herbert, his son Greg and grandson Stuart partnering as current co-owners of the franchise.

References

^ "Glimpse of History: 'Look for the orange circles' in Montville". New Jersey On-line LLC. 2015-10-08. Archived from the original on 2015-10-11. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
^ "Drive-in holds formal opening". Staten Island Advance. SILive.com. 1970-08-06. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
^ "Hamburgers: Sweet Smell of Success". The New York Times Company. 1972-06-04. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
^ "Nathan's Hunt for an Upturn". The New York Times. September 19, 1981. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
^ "Wetson's-Nathan's Merger Set". The New York Times. March 28, 1978. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
^ Handwerker, William (2016). "Wetson's Acquisition". Nathan's Famous: The First 100 Years of America's Favorite Frankfurter Company. New York: Morgan James Publishing. p. 82. ISBN 978-1630479350.
^ "WETSON'S Trademark Details". Justia. Retrieved 2022-02-22.