| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fast Food |
| Founded | 1986 in Mobile, Alabama as Checkers 1985 in Jeffersonville, Indiana as Rally's 1999 (Merger of Checkers and Rally's) |
| Headquarters | Tampa, Florida |
| Products | Burgers, Hot Dogs, Chicken, Fish, Hot wings, french fries, Shakes, Soft Drinks |
| Owner(s) | Wellspring Capital Management |
| Website | checkers.com rallys.com |
Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. is the largest chain of double drive-thru restaurants in the United States. In June 2006, the Company went private through a merger with Taxi Holdings Corp., an affiliate of Wellspring Capital Management, a private equity firm.
The company operates more than 815 Checkers and Rally's restaurants in 28 states and the District of Columbia with restaurants also operating in Israel and American Samoa. They specialize in hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, and milkshakes.
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Originally separate companies serving different geographic areas, Checkers and Rally's Hamburgers, Inc. merged in August 1999. The joint company houses its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Checkers was founded in 1986 in Mobile, Alabama, and went public in 1991. Rally's was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1985, with its first location in Jeffersonville, Indiana. From 1996 to 1999, Rally's was owned by CKE Restaurants, parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's.
Checkers and Rally's had similar concepts, being almost exclusively drive-thru with very little seating. After the merger, Rally's began redesigning its restaurants to follow the Checkers look. Today, with the exception of a different name on the sign, Checkers and Rally's restaurants look nearly identical.
The menus of the two restaurants are nearly identical, differing in that Checkers' menu includes additional hamburgers (including the Bacon Choice Champs).The Checkers menu grew in size to include Burgers, Chicken, Fish, Hot Dogs, Classic Wings, Drinks, Fries and Desserts. The chain's french fries are also served with a spicy coating.
Checkers and Rally's nutritional information is available through the company website.[1]
Rally's has not bought into the "healthification" of fast food that can be witnessed in other franchises that have altered their menus to include salads, fruits, or alternative low-calorie options to the standard burger and fries fare. In fact, their slogan history since 2000's groundbreaking "You Gotta Eat," combined with the prominent display of substantial caloric information in on-site materials communicate an unashamed, if not proud, rejection of recent trends toward healthful-mindedness.
Checkers and Rally's slogan from 1999 to 2000 was "High performance Human Fuel" and was then "You gotta eat!" from 2000 to 2007. A rap jingle accompanied several of the ads using that slogan. Although they still say it in some commercials, the new slogan is "Little Place, Big Taste".
In 1991, a then-unknown Seth Green starred in a Rally's commercial, giving life to the now-famous "cha-ching" interjection.
In September 2007, ML Rogers, LLC., a Madison Ave. advertising agency, won the advertising rights for Checkers Restaurants. They completely restructured the advertising campaign. Among one of the many changes is their new slogan, "little place. BIG TASTE." which can be seen in commercials airing since October 2007.[2]
Checkers Restaurants' in-house advertising and marketing team is led by Kris Miotke (Senior Director of Advertising) and Nick Riegel (Marketing & Advertising Manager).
In 2008 Checkers awarded " Vendor of the Year" awards to 3 of over 200 vendors for their help and support:[3]
In 2007, the chain used a character called Rap Cat, a stuffed animal cat who performs a rap song about the chain. The ad campaign became popular after it was posted on YouTube, becoming a viral video.[5] The company gave away paper bags patterned like a basketball jersey to be worn by cats, with slots to cut out for the legs and tail, and asked customers to post videos of their cat wearing it to a Rap Cat website. This received criticism from animal rights activists, though Checkers stated that the packaging was "intended only as a creative extension of our television campaign."[6][7]
Drive-thrus with new, late-night hours use the slogan "Devour the Night!"