Carl’s Jr looking at opening in Toowoomba
A MAJOR American burger chain opened its first Queensland store yesterday with Toowoomba pinned as one of its next locations.
Carl’s Jr opened at Redbank Plains and the company behind the franchise has earmarked Toowoomba, the Gold Coast, Townsville and Rockhampton for their next locations.
It has a California-influenced menu with juicy 100% Angus “thickburgers”, chicken tenders, hand-scooped ice cream shakes, breakfast sandwiches, coffee and desserts.
The franchise has more than 1300 stores worldwide and in 2016 Carl’s Jr parent company CKE Restaurants Holdings signed a development deal with Brisbane independent retailer Bansal Group to open 20 Carl’s Jr restaurants in Queensland.
It seems the ball is rolling with the first store opening and now the question is, when is Carl’s Jr opening in Toowoomba?
Carl’s Jr is known for snubbing the capital cities and focusing on regional areas first.
Its first franchise launch in Oz was in February 2016 in Bateau Bay in New South Wales and its first Queensland location is also regional.
The Bansal Group general manager Shawn Kerr said the company had targeted regional areas as they wanted to first establish the brand in Queensland before seeking out metropolitan locations.
“We want to be a destination restaurant and we want to establish the brand as an entity,” he said.
The Chronicle has contacted the Bansal Group for more information on the Toowoomba store.