The fast food chain featuring a red-haired girl in its logo is Wendy’s.
The logo depicts Wendy Thomas, the daughter of Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas. Her likeness appears as a freckle-faced girl with red braids, a visual identity that helped connect the restaurant brand with a friendly, family-style image. The chain’s full original name was Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers.
Melinda Lou Thomas was nicknamed “Wendy” because her siblings had difficulty pronouncing her name. Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969, naming the business after her. The logo has been redesigned over time, but Wendy’s red-haired mascot remains central to its branding. The image is sometimes confused with a generic cartoon character; it is specifically based on Wendy Thomas, not an unrelated fictional mascot.