CARPINTERIA, Calif. — CKE Restaurants Inc. and RWJP Star Enterprises have entered into a franchise development agreement to open a minimum of 121 Carl's Jr. restaurants in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Tyler/Longview and Beaumont, Texas, markets over the next 10 years, CKE has announced.
Carl's Jr. currently has 16 franchised units in Texas. In addition, Carl's Jr. opened three company-owned restaurants in the San Antonio and Austin markets this year and plans to open additional restaurants in these markets in 2009.
The agreement is the latest step in the company's program to increase overall unit growth, particularly franchise unit growth. For fiscal 2009 to date, the company has entered into a total of 18 franchise development agreements, representing commitments for 375 restaurants — 231 domestic units and 144 international units — including agreements to enter three new countries, China, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.
Over the next five years, the company anticipates it will add more than 800 new restaurants to its global store base. In the process, franchised restaurants should increase from 68.5 percent of the system to approximately 75 percent, and international locations should increase from 10 percent of the system to approximately 20 percent, according to a news release.
