Wendy’s said Thursday it will close its metro Atlanta support center late next year, moving 170 jobs to the hamburger chain’s new headquarters in Dublin, Ohio.
The move is a consolidation of the company’s support facilities in Ohio and locally in Sandy Springs.
“While this was a difficult decision considering the excellent employees we have in Atlanta, I believe it is important to bring our entire restaurant support center together in one location,” Wendy’s president and chief executive officer Emil Brolick said in a release.
The company plans to offer a majority of employees the chance to follow their jobs to Ohio and will give retention bonuses to help with the transition, Wendy’s said. Those who decline to move will receive severance packages and outplace counseling.
“Certainly it is a very personal decision,” Wendy’s spokesman Bob Bertini said, adding that support center jobs include finance, accounting and informational services.
The news comes four months after Wendy’s decided to bring the majority of its staff to Ohio. Wendy’s became part of Wendy’s/Arby’s Group after the two restaurat companies merged in 2008. Wendy’s kept most of its operations in Ohio, its historic home; Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, the chain’s parent company, remained in Atlanta.
Wendy’s/Arby’s Group was dissolved when Arby’s was sold this past summer to private equity firm Roark Capital Group.
To encourage Wendy’s to fully locate its headquarters in Ohio, Dublin offered $8 million in incentives and the state offered $4 million. To bring the support centers under one roof, Ohio offered another $5 million in incentives, Bertini said.
Georgia was not approached for incentives, Bertini said.
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