POPULAR American fast food chain Wendy's has announced plans to launch its first UK restaurants next year - could Oxford be one of them?

The US burger giant, behind only McDonald's and Burger King in terms of size and success in its homeland, could open hundreds of outlets around the country in a new attempt to break into the British fast food market.

In a transcript of a meeting with investors obtained by The Mail on Sunday, The Wendy's Company president of the international division and chief development officer Abigail Pringle said the fast food market in the UK is growing at almost 3 per cent a year, bucking the overall contraction. 

She added: "Where the UK has been pulling back is in casual dining – just like we have in the US.

'But we believe their overall growth in the quick service restaurant segment – and hamburger specifically – is growing and we believe we can be a challenger brand in that market and have great success.

'The United Kingdom will be our beachhead to European expansion. We believe it is a growing market and it has lots of great growth ahead of it.

"We also know that great American brands have been successful. Burger brands have been unbelievably successful there. But we believe that we can challenge those brands."

Wendy's has more than 6,700 outlets in 30 countries around the world including the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

The fast food chain opened restaurants in the UK in 1992 but pulled out seven years later due to high real estate and operating costs.

Ms Pringle added: "We are going there with our eyes wide open and with a lot of insights and preparation.

"We have done landmark research with thousands of consumers in the UK. We have talked to them and engaged with them and what they think about the Wendy's brand."