Over the past 28 years, John Patton has built the biggest local Wendy’s franchise in Chattanooga with 11 local restaurants and dreams of adding or buying at least a half dozen more. But for all his success, Patton didn’t start out to be a restaurateur.
Patton operated a rock quarry near LaFayette, Georgia, in the 1980s and regularly sent a runner to pick up Wendy’s food for his workers at lunch. When service wasn’t as fast and the food didn’t come up to Patton’s standards, he decided to buy the LaFayette Wendy’s restaurant and improve operations.
After building up the Lafayette Wendy’s unit, Patton began building other Wendy’s around the Chattanooga area under the business known as Wen Choo Choo. His daughter, Kim Patton, is vice president of operations, and his grandson, Zack DeBord, who joined the company at age 15, is now president..
DeBord took a few years off from the family-owned business to play baseball at Chattanooga State, but he rejoined the company after college and was promoted to its president in 2014.
Wen Choo Choo now operates restaurants in Lafayette, Ringgold, Trenton and Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia and and in Kimball, East Ridge, Hixson, Soddy-Daisy, Dunlap, Lookout Valley and downtown Chattanooga in Tennessee. The latest unit, a new 2-story design built on Holtzclaw Avenue near the Warner Park zoo, opened in December.
Ultimately, DeBord said he hopes to get 18 to 24 locations before diversifying into other restaurant brands.
“We could be interested in acquiring other units or markets as we grow,” Debord says.
DeBord credits much of the growth and success of the 350-employee firm to hard work.
“My grandfather says he has been lucky, but Dave Thomas (Wendy’s founder) used to always say the harder you work the luckier you get,” Debord says. “I love working for my grandfather. He’s a great role model and an even better teacher.”