[14] The present-day Wendy's Company had several predecessors, the oldest of which (Deisel-Wemmer Co., a cigar manufacturer and importer based in Ohio) was founded in 1884.

Another series of acquisitions began in 1948 with the Nathan Elson Company, followed by A. Sensenbrenner & Sons in 1955, and in 1956, Chicago Motor Club Cigar and Reading, Pennsylvania-based Yocum Brothers.

With the decline of the cigar market due to medical advisories, many smokers switched to cigarettes, which were believed to be safer at the time.

DWG used its cash from the cigar operation sale to purchase a 12% share in the National Propane Corporation.

This included DWG and NVF, a vulcanized fiber manufacturer that controlled the other half of Posner's companies.

Posner also started selling DWG assets, including Foxcroft, Enro and the citrus subsidiaries.

DWG bought beverage company Royal Crown Cola and its fast food subsidiary Arby's through a hostile takeover in 1984.

[15] An investor that Posner contacted to help get Sharon Steel out of bankruptcy told Posner that his lawyer, Andrew Heine, was considering buying Fischbach Corp. Just short of Fischbach being sold, Heine's Granada Investments Company made a bid for DWG at $22 per share.

[15] Posner stopped the appointed directors from presenting their report to the full board, forcing Judge Lambros to convert 50% of Security Management Company ownership in DWG to preferred shares and to sell the remaining common stock.

Posner resigned as chair of DWG in 1992 and sold his shares to Trian Partners, a New York-based investment partnership led by Nelson Peltz and Peter May.

[20] Cable Car Beverage Corporation, maker of Stewart's Root Beer, was purchased by Triarc in November 1997 for $31 million in stock.

[23][24] On April 24, 2008, Triarc announced the acquisition of Wendy's International, the fast food company.