Restaurant provider Blank Table is named as operator for fast food chain Wendy's in Peterborough

A recently created food and restaurant services provider is to operate Peterborough’s soon-to-open fast food drive-thru Wendy’s.

Blank Table Ltd, which was incorporated as a company 17 months ago, has been selected to run the new outlet on behalf of the American burger giant when it opens at the £25 million Bourges View in Maskew Avenue, New England, later this year.

It will be the third Wendy’s outlet in Cambridgeshire to be run by Blank Table.

Carl Morris, managing director, confirmed that Blank Table would be operating the Wendy’s franchise in Peterborough.

He said: “I think we’ll be opening the Peterborough outlet after the summer and hope to employ about 50 to 60 people.

"Brampton Hut was Wendy’s first drive-thru in the UK. It was a great opening and the feedback from customers has been amazing.”

He said: “A lot of people coming to Brampton are driving from Peterborough to have a Wendy’s.

"They can’t wait for Wendy’s in Peterborough to open – they are all desperate for it to come to Maskew Avenue.”

He said that Blank Table had secured permission to be Wendy’s franchisee across East Anglia after first applying for the role and then undergoing a ‘strict’ and ‘difficult’ appraisal process.

He said: “Wendy’s chose us as a partner after lots of meetings and lots of presentations and we are pleased that they had a lot of confidence in us as we did in them.

"We have a growth plan. Blank Table see itself going to 1,000 to 1,500 employees in East Anglia in the next three or four years – so we are going to create a few jobs.

“Our head office will be in Peterborough.

"As the franchisee for East Anglia our area is from Leicester to Norwich, Lowestoft, Ipswich, back to Grantham and then down to Stevenage.

“We will open restaurants in that patch and we are targeting the biggest population areas first.”

Mr Morris added: “Wendy’s has a great unique selling point where quality is our recipe and our food is very fresh.

"We have really good healthy option menus and there is something for everyone.

"Breakfast is a huge thing for us – we see a good market in fresh breakfasts with amazing coffee starting at 99 pence.

He added: “With the cost of living crisis and food prices escalating, people are after feeding their families well with fresh ingredients and products at a reasonable price.”

The Wendy’s outlet in the Horsefair Shopping Centre, in Wisbech, is to open on April 27 and will create 50 jobs.

It comes about four months after the chain opened its first Cambridgeshire restaurant at the Brampton Hut interchange in January.

As well as Wendy’s, the Bourges View development will feature drive-thrus for fast food giant Taco Bell and Costa Coffee along with 21 other units that will provide 200,000 square feet of trade counter, industrial and drive-through space.

The development is expected to create hundreds of jobs and generate new life into the area with the site, a former Parcelforce sorting and distribution centre, having been vacant for 10 years.