Founder of Carl's Jr. Passes Away

Submitted by michael webster on Tue, 2008/01/15 - 12:43.

Carl Karcher, Founder of Carl's Jr., Obituary

Carl Karcher, the founder of Carl's Jr., passed away on January 11th, 2008.

"He leaves behind a legacy as an innovator in the fast-food industry, using his Carl Jr.'s restaurants to introduce new concepts such as salad bars, self-service beverage stations, one-of-a-kind products like the Western Bacon Cheeseburger, indoor dining rooms, and the practice of bringing food to customers' tables.

"Carl was a pioneer in this industry, a devout Catholic, and a loving family man. He touched countless lives through his generosity as a business leader and philanthropist, and his legacy will most certainly live on," said Andrew F. Puzder, Chief executive of the CKE Restaurants, the company Karcher built from scratch."

From the McClathy Tribune obituary , which is extremely interesting.   I wish they had said more about  this:

"Some bad personal financial dealings, and an ensuing series of lawsuits sent Karcher to the brink of bankruptcy in 1993. Karcher also clashed with his board of directors about dual branding, a controversial idea at the time to incorporate the Green Burrito chain and its Mexican menu into Carl's Jr. locations. That strategy that later proved successful and was copied by competitors. But in 1993, it may have been too controversial. Karcher was fired from the board."

Dual branding, or saving retail space, didn't work out Wendy's and Tim Horton's, however. I encourage you to read the entire piece. 

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Carl Karcher, 1917 - 2008

Submitted by Don Sniegowski on Tue, 2008/01/15 - 14:45.

Here's a photo of Carl Karcher, founder of Carl's Jr.

I must confess that there is a bit of mystique when it comes to Karcher and his professional career.

Anyone interested in creating a franchise encyclopedia entry for Karcher? I would but I am weighed down by investigative reporting projects at the moment. The community could use the help of you gifted franchisees and wise experts out there.

Here's how to contribute.

I'll use Michael's article on Karcher as the core of a franchise encyclopedia entry. The article falls under our Franchipedia's franchise history category.

For those who have one bit of information to add, post a comment under this article. For those with a lot of information, write a blog. I'll harmonize and link the entries.

Another article on Karcher

Submitted by michael webster on Thu, 2008/01/17 - 17:08.

Here is another article on Karcher. 

Michael Webster PhD LLB
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