It is not just a nickname anymore. The Wendy’s located inside of Jester Center was officially renamed to “Jendy’s” Friday.

Chris Corley, executive creative director for VML, a marketing agency that runs advertising for Wendy’s, said they noticed the recent closure of the Wendy’s in the Texas Union Building bothered a lot of UT students. The name change aimed to show students that they are listening. 

“Students had a little bit of outrage about the closing of the last Wendy’s, but they kept referring to this one in Jester as Jendy’s,” Corley said. “We thought it would be great if we could just come here and rebrand the whole thing as Jendy’s to prove that we get the students.”

Christina Miller, director for social strategy for VML, said they browse Twitter to find out what Wendy’s fans are talking about. They used this strategy when Nevada teen Carter Wilkerson asked the Wendy’s Twitter account how many retweets he would need to receive a lifetime supply of chicken nuggets. After 18 million retweets, Wilkerson broke the record for the most retweeted tweet ever. 

“Wendy’s loves to find opportunities like that on social media and finding how we can actually bring that to life,” Miller said. “This is the same thing. Hopefully we can leave the signage up for forever.”

On Friday, a new twitter account specifically for Jendy’s was launched. The account replies to students and makes jokes such as “Don’t let your dreams be memes.”

A Jendy’s employee distributed free burgers to students around campus Friday, carrying four bags of burgers and returning to Jendy’s to refill the bags several times. Rebecca Garcia, a Jendy’s manager, dressed up as “Jendy” on Friday and greeted students walking through Jester in a red pigtail wig and a blue dress.  

“Students can’t believe that the store’s name is Jendy’s now,” Garcia said. “It’s a huge surprise. Everytime a group of students walks by, they’re like, ‘Oh my god, who’s that girl with
red hair?’”

Garcia said during her employment at the Jester Wendy’s location, she has never heard anyone call it Jendy’s before. She said all employees will wear hats and aprons with “Jendy’s” on them and will be required to say “Welcome to Jendy’s” everytime customers enter.

Electrical engineering sophomore Andrew Brown said he heard from his friends about Jendy’s and walked across campus to see it with his own eyes. 

“I’ve heard people call this place Jendy’s since the spring semester of my freshman year,” said Brown, who lives at Jester. “It definitely started out as a joke, but it’s caught on and now people seriously call this place Jendy’s.”

After the football game Saturday, Jendy’s served free food from 10 p.m. to midnight to celebrate the renaming.