Carl's Jr.

Carl's Jr. is an American-based fast-food restaurant chain operating in the Western and Southwestern states. As of 2015 it has started expanding and is now in multiple other countries. CKE Restaurants, Inc owns the chain.

Carl Karcher (1917-2008) founded the predecessor of Carl's Jr. in 1941, a hot dog cart. His first restaurant (1945) was a sit-down full-service location called Carl's Drive-In Barbeque. As this became successful, in 1954 he launched a chain of smaller restaurants called Carl's, followed in 1956 by new outlets with a more limited menu called Carl's Jr., and sales took off.

The parent company CKE Restaurants, Inc., purchased the Hardee's chain in 1997, and is slowly amalgamating the two chains.

In 2012, Nation's Restaurant News rated Carl's Jr. as the #37 foodservice chain in the United States based on sales through 2011. Hardee's was listed at #28. If the two chains sales were combined, they would have been at #15. In 2013, QSR listed Carl's Jr. at #24 and Hardee's at #20; if combined they would have been listed at #14.