Wimpy: History, Key Facts and Reviews

1934-1977: Wimpy Grills in Indiana and Chicago

Wimpy began as Wimpy Grills, a hamburger restaurant that Edward Vale Gold opened in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1934 (Wikipedia). Gold borrowed the name of J. Wellington Wimpy, the hamburger-loving character of E. C. Segar’s Popeye cartoons, who would “gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today”. The first Chicago-area grill followed in 1936, and the American chain peaked at 26 locations in 1947. It never grew further. When Gold died in 1977, only seven US restaurants were left, and they disappeared because nobody bought the rights to the name from his estate. That is why a chain founded in the United States is now run from South Africa.

1954-1989: the Wimpy Bar brings the burger to Britain

Wimpy became a mass brand in the United Kingdom, not in America. In 1954 Gold licensed the name to J. Lyons and Co., which opened the first Wimpy Bar inside its Lyons Corner House on Coventry Street, London. It started as a fast-food counter within a traditional restaurant, then spread as stand-alone table-service restaurants serving only hamburger meals. In 1957 Gold and Lyons set up Wimpy International to franchise the concept abroad. By 1970 there were more than 1,000 Wimpy restaurants in 23 countries, and the chain peaked at about 1,500 international locations at the end of the decade. Our history of the hamburger explains how Wimpy carried burgers across Europe years before McDonald’s. United Biscuits bought the business in 1977. Grand Metropolitan took it over in 1989, when it had 381 UK sites, and converted the counter-service restaurants to Burger King, which it also owned.

1990-2007: buyouts and the move to South Africa

The table-service Wimpy survived as an independent company. In February 1990 a management buyout backed by 3i bought the 216 remaining restaurants, and a second buyout, backed by Bank of Scotland, followed in May 2002. Meanwhile Wimpy had grown on its own in South Africa, where Wimpy International opened its first restaurant in Durban in 1967. Famous Brands, the group behind Steers, acquired Wimpy South Africa in 2003 and Wimpy UK in 2007 (Famous Brands), bringing the whole brand under one owner.

2026: 538 restaurants, most of them in South Africa

Today Wimpy is mainly a South African family restaurant with a smaller British arm. It serves all-day breakfasts, burgers, grills, shakes and its own coffee, and its South African menu is available in all 11 national languages, according to Famous Brands. At the end of February 2026 the chain had 538 restaurants: 460 in South Africa after 12 openings and 9 closures in the year, 20 elsewhere in southern Africa and 58 in the UK, down from 61 (Famous Brands results presentation).

Key dates

• 1934: Edward Vale Gold opens Wimpy Grills in Bloomington, Indiana.
• 1954: first Wimpy Bar, in the Lyons Corner House on Coventry Street, London.
• 1967: first South African Wimpy, in Durban.
• 1970: more than 1,000 Wimpy restaurants in 23 countries.
• 1977: Gold dies and the US chain disappears.
• 1989: Grand Metropolitan buys Wimpy and turns counter sites into Burger Kings.
• 2007: Famous Brands acquires Wimpy UK.
• 2026: 538 restaurants at the end of February.