CARPINTERIA Calif. CKE Restaurants Inc. said Thursday it had capped off its nearly two-year Hardee’s refranchising program with the sale of 11 Hardee’s restaurants in Missouri.
Since the company began efforts to sell corporate restaurants to franchisees in April 2007, it has sold 238 Hardee’s units and secured commitments for 115 new franchise restaurants under development agreements for those various markets, the company said. The tally was 38 locations more than, or 19 percent over, original corporate targets, the company said.
CKE now owns 477 Hardee’s restaurants out of a system of 1,913 locations and also operates 415 Carl’s Jr.restaurants out of a total of 1,194 units. “We exceeded our goals for this program with respect to both the number of restaurants we refranchised and the number of restaurants franchisees committed to build,” said CKE chief executive Andrew F. Puzder. “We are also pleased that we have been able to complete our strategic refranchising program without the need to provide company-backed financing for any transaction, further underscoring the return to success that we have achieved at Hardee’s.” Numerous restaurant companies have cited the current credit freeze as a major challenge to garnering the franchise financing needed to continue chain growth. The latest 11 Hardee’s locations sold were purchased by current Carl’s Jr. franchisee Rising Stars LLC. Terms were not disclosed.
