In 1978, Wienerwald purchased the 273-restaurant Lum's chain from the former owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, John Y.

[2] The chain recovered, but failed to return to its former glory; sales and restaurant numbers declined and many foreign markets were abandoned.

[3][4] In 2007, Friedrich Jahn's daughters Margot Steinberg and Evelyn Peitzner purchased the company and Wienerwald started a new era.

[5] In June 2009 the first Wienerwald in Turkey opened in Istanbul,[5] but despite a rapid expansion—temporarily reaching 30 branches—the market has been abandoned.

At the end of 2017[update], 23 restaurants remained in Germany (sited most densely in Bavaria),[6] three in Greater Cairo and one each in Budapest and in Dubai.