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Research and Markets: Carl's Jr. Concept Benchmark Analysis

Analysis of the Carl's Jr. restaurant concept provides readers with unique data and insight into this leading brand.

Carl's is a large, regional chain on the West Coast that has carved out a brand centered on feeding young, hungry males with over-the-top indulgent burgers. While this story line is quite interesting (especially when you add-in the use of seductive advertising to attract the chain's target market), it may not tell Carl's entire story. This reflects that in today's world, diversity is the word of the day and reality suggests that there is more even to Carl's than young, hungry males. Granted, this story worked well enough in the past as Carl's burgers and marketing worked its charm. However, the world has changed over the last 1 year+ and Carl's sales declines suggest that the brand has some tweaking to do to fit in to the new normal (which includes the introduction of McDonald's Angus Third Pounder along with heightened price competition not only at QSR but also at the casual chains - taking away Carl's low-hanging trade-down fruit). We suspect that Carl's will get it right and use the same innovation which put indulgent burgers on the map to figure out their way going forward. In any case, it is our opinion that the chain has ample brand equity to weather a transition once management commits to pursuing the necessary tweaks.

Key Topics Covered:

• Strategy
• System statistics
• Sales performance
• Operational performance
• Unit level data
• Remodeling
• Franchisee overview

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/709cbc/carls_jr_concept.

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