CKE Restaurants, Inc. is the parent company of the Carl's Jr.

Carl's Jr.

Carl's Jr. is an American fast-food restaurant chain located mostly in the Western and Southwestern United States. The first store has opened in Canada in Kelowna, BC. They are in the process of expanding to Mexico, Malaysia, Denmark, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Russia, Vietnam,...

, Hardee's

Hardee's

Hardee's is a restaurant chain, located mostly in the Southeast and Midwestern regions of the United States. It has evolved through several corporate ownerships since its establishment in 1960. It is currently owned and operated by CKE Restaurants. Along with its sibling restaurant chain, Carl's...

, Green Burrito

Green Burrito

Green Burrito is an American fast-food restaurant chain run by CKE Restaurants, Inc., located mostly in the Western and Southwestern United States and serving fast-food Tex-Mex....

, and Red Burrito restaurant chains. Its headquarters are in Carpinteria, California

Carpinteria, California

Carpinteria is a small oceanside city located in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California, east of Santa Barbara and northwest of Ventura. The population was 13,040 at the 2010 census, down from 14,194 at the 2000 census....

. It was incorporated in 1964 by Carl's Jr. founder Carl Karcher

Carl Karcher

Carl Nicholas Karcher, SMOM was an American businessman, founder of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain, now owned by parent company CKE Restaurants, Inc.-Early life:...

 as Carl Karcher Enterprises, Inc.

History

In 2007, it sold La Salsa fresh mex restaurants. From 1996 to 1999, the company also owned the Rally's drive-up hamburger chain http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E1D71739F930A35756C0A960958260, and it owned Taco Bueno

Taco Bueno

Taco Bueno is a U.S.-based fast-food restaurant chain specializing in Tex-Mex-style Mexican cuisine. Currently headquartered in Farmers Branch, Texas, the first location was in Abilene, Texas in 1967. The company has locations in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas,...

 from 1996 until 2001. The company acquired Hardee's in 1997 from Imasco.

The current CEO is Andrew Puzder

Andrew Puzder

Andrew F. Puzder is chief executive of CKE Restaurants. He received his juris doctorate in 1978 from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and is a member of the California, Nevada and Missouri bar associations, and has served as president and CEO of CKE since September 2000.Puzder is...

, who has served as CKE CEO since September 2000.

On February 26, 2010, THL Partners agreed to acquire CKE Restaurants Inc. Ultimately CKE accepted a $693.9 million takeover offer from Apollo Management

Apollo Management

Apollo Global Management, LLC is a private equity investment firm, founded in 1990 by former Drexel Burnham Lambert banker Leon Black. The firm specializes in leveraged buyout transactions and purchases of distressed securities involving corporate restructuring, special situations and industry...

, ending the earlier takeover agreement with THL Partners.

External links

• CKE Restaurants corporate website
• Diners Walk Through One Door and Visit Two Restaurants (Article in the New York Times
  The New York Times
  The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
  
  on the strategy of multi-branding restaurants)
• CKE Restaurants management team listing & bios