CARPINTERIA, Calif. — CKE Restaurants Inc., operator of the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands, is launching a refranchising program that is expected to involve more than 200 company-owned Hardee's restaurants in a number of markets across the Midwest and Southeast.
"Refranchising these markets will accelerate their development and will allow the Company to focus its own development efforts in its core markets," said CKE president and CEO Andrew F. Puzder. "We are in various stages of negotiations with potential and existing franchisees for the sale of the great majority of these restaurant locations. Most of the proposed transactions also include a development agreement."
As part of the program's launch, the company recently sold 18 units in eastern Atlanta to franchisee Biscuits and Burgers LLC. As part of the transaction, Biscuits and Burgers has committed to build 25 new Hardee's restaurant locations in eastern Atlanta over the next seven years.
The franchisees purchasing the 18 eastern Atlanta restaurants, Steve Rosenfield and Buddy Brown, currently operate Hardee's restaurants in Montana and Wyoming, as well as Carl's Jr. restaurant locations in Colorado and California. With the purchase of these additional restaurants, Rosenfield and Brown now own 50 restaurants under the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. flag.
Rosenfield owns an additional 21 Carl's Jr. restaurants with a different partner.
A second recent refranchising transaction involved the sale of seven units in southern Alabama and Georgia, to franchisee Ponder Enterprises Inc., which intends to develop more restaurants in that market.
The franchisees purchasing the southern Alabama and Georgia restaurants, Dan Ponder and Ernest Ponder, currently operate Hardee's restaurants in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The purchase of these seven restaurants brings the total number of Hardee's restaurants owned by Ponder Enterprises Inc. to 21.
