CARPINTERIA Calif. Carl's Jr. and Hardee's parent CKE Restaurants Inc., based here, has licensed geoVue's Dynamic Location Optimization Solution to help maximize investments in existing stores and target new growth markets.
"geoVue will help us prioritize new markets, determine how to lay out franchise territories in each of them, prioritize our remodeling program for existing stores and ultimately give us a rapid return on our investment," according to Rich Buxton, CKE's executive vice president of real estate development. At the end of the fiscal year ended, Jan. 29, CKE operated or franchised 1,097 Carl's Jr. units, 1,906 Hardee's sites and 96 La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill restaurants.
Sources at Woburn, Mass.-based geoVue said the vendor's software and domain expertise permit users to create predictive store trade areas and models. Among other things, they said, those capabilities help clients determine the number, type and location of new sites they should development and they provide indications of how to localize marketing and merchandising programs.