Carrols Restaurant Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc.
Type Public (NASDAQTAST)
Founded 1960[1]
Founder Herbert N. Slotnik[1]
Headquarters Syracuse, New York, U.S.
No. of locations 554 O&O; 30 franchised[2]
Area served United States, Puerto Rico, Ecuador[2]
Industry Restaurants (SIC code 5812)
Products Burger King (franchisee)
Taco Cabana (owner)
Pollo Tropical (owner)[2]
Operating income US$19,900,000 (2006)[3]
Net income US$13,420,000 (2006)[3]
Employees over 10,000[1]
Subsidiaries Carrols Corporation
Website http://www.carrols.com/

Carrols Restaurant Group is a fast-food restaurant operator. It is the largest Burger King franchisee in the world;[2] Carrols owns and operates about 330 Burger King locations across 12 U.S. states.[1]

The company also owns the restaurant chains Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana. About 30 of these locations are franchised; the remained are owned and operated by Carrols itself.[2] It originally owned a restaurant chain named Carrols; the U.S. locations were closed in the mid-1970s; current Carrols restaurants only exist in southern Finland.

Carrols corporate offices are located in Syracuse, New York. Most of its operations are under a subsidiary named Carrols Corporation.

Contents

[edit] History

Carrols was an offshoot of the Tastee Freeze company. Herb Slotnick bought the franchise rights for the New York area and started opening restaurants in the Syracuse, New York area in the early 1960s. They expanded through the years throughout New York state.

During the 1960s, a yellow slug character served as Carrols 1st mascot; he was replaced in 1974 by a young blonde lad wearing a tweed suit and a Fedora hat.

During the 1970s, Carrols tried their hand at serving fried chicken (like that served at KFC); their attempt was called Crispy Country Chicken. Carrols also formed an agreement with Good Humor to sell several of GH's favorite ice cream novelty bars.

Carrols restaurant locations were converted to Burger King franchises in 1975. The original menu of Carrols, and the Carrols brand, then went overseas to Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Russia.

[edit] Carrols restaurant menu

The flagship sandwich in Carrols' original menu was the Club Burger; like the Big Mac at McDonald's, it also had two all-beef patties, a special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions served on a sesame-seeded triple-decker hamburger bun. The Club Burger also had a tomato slice, and its special sauce is known as Crisbo Royale Sauce (a blend of 45% mayonnaise + 45% ketchup + 10% relish). They also rolled out their own version of Burger King's Whopper sandwich called "The Brute".

The fish sandwich at Carrols was called a "Sea Filet".

An exclusive at Carrols was the "Roast Beef Hero", consisting of heated slices of deli roast beef piled inside a bolillio roll, with a dripping of beef broth. Barbecue sauce was optionally served with it.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d History. Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
  2. ^ a b c d e Carrols Restaurant Group - Corporate Profile. Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
  3. ^ a b Carrols Restaurant Group - Fundamentals - Annual Highlights. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.

[edit] External links