FULLERTON Calif. Fast-food legend Carl N. Karcher, whose $326 investment to launch a Los Angeles hot dog cart in 1941 grew into the 3,000-plus-branch CKE Restaurants system, died at the St. Jude Medical Center here Friday from complications of pneumonia and Parkinson’s disease. He was 90.
The Ohio native, who added more L.A. carts before moving to Anaheim in 1945 and opening Carl's Drive-In Barbecue, debuted Carl's Jr. in 1956 and began expanding the burger chain in Orange County. It went on to pioneer such quick-service breakthroughs as carpeted dining rooms, padded seats, landscaped buildings, limited table service, charbroiled chicken breast sandwiches and self-service beverage fountains. He took Anaheim-based Carl Karcher Enterprises public in 1981, when there were 300 Carl's Jr. branches.
Karcher, who was honored as CKE's chairman and CEO with such awards as the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association's Silver Plate in 1978, the Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators' Operator of the Year honor in 1983, and MUFSO's Pioneer Award in 1993, retired in 2004 from the board of CKE, which is now based in Carpinteria, Calif. CKE and its franchisees today operate 1,121 Carl's Jr. and 1,915 Hardee's restaurants.
Karcher is survived by 11 children, 51 grandchildren and 45 great-grandchildren. His wife of more than 66 years, company co-founder Margaret Karcher, died in 2006.
Karcher is survived by 11 children, 51 grandchildren and 45 great-grandchildren. Margaret Karcher died in 2006.