issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . april 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message the neutrality of this article is disputed . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met . april 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message carl s jr. the 2006 present logo type wholly owned subsidiary industry fast food founded july 17 1941 ; 75 years ago july 17 1941 headquarters carpinteria california u.s. number of locations 1 385 april 2015 key people carl karcher margaret karcher founders products fast food parent cke restaurants website www.carlsjr.com carl s jr. is an american based fast food restaurant chain operated by cke restaurants holdings inc. with locations primarily in the western and southwestern united states . carl karcher 1917 2008 and his wife margaret founded the predecessor of carl s jr. in 1941 starting as a hot dog cart in los angeles . in 1945 the karchers moved the short distance to anaheim california and opened their first full service restaurant carl s drive in barbeque . as the restaurant became successful carl expanded his business by opening the first two carl s jr. restaurants in anaheim and nearby brea in 1956 . they were so named because they were smaller versions of carl s original drive in restaurant . that same year the chain was officially renamed carl s jr. and the fast food chain took off . 1 in 2016 entrepreneur listed carl s jr. as 54 on their top franchise 500 list which ranks the overall financial strength stability and growth rate for the top 500 franchisees in any field across the united states . 2 as of march 2016 cke the parent company of carl s jr. and hardee s has a total of 3 664 franchised or company operated restaurants in 44 states and 38 foreign countries and u.s. territories . 3 contents 1 company profile 1.1 1940s 1.2 1950s 1.3 1960s 1.4 1970s 1.5 1980s 1.6 1990s 1.7 2000s 1.8 2010s 1.9 international 1.10 philanthropy 1.11 co branding 2 advertising 2.1 paris hilton campaign 2.2 all natural campaign 3 see also 4 references 5 external links company profile edit 1940s edit in 1941 carl karcher and his wife margaret karcher n e. heinz borrowed 311 on their plymouth automobile and added 15 in savings to purchase a hot dog cart on the corner of florence and central in los angeles . from their newly purchased cart they sold hot dogs chili dogs and tamales for a dime and soda for a nickel . within a few years carl and margaret owned and operated four hot dog stands in los angeles . in 1945 the karchers moved the short distance to anaheim california and opened their first full service restaurant carl s drive in barbeque . 4 a year later hamburgers were added to the menu for the first time . 1950s edit in 1956 karcher opened the first two carl s jr. restaurants so named because they were a smaller version of carl s drive in restaurant in anaheim and brea . 5 by the end of the 1950s there were four carl s jr. restaurants in orange county calif. the restaurants also had a new supervisor donald f. karcher carl s younger brother who would later become the company s president . 6 1960s edit by the 1960s carl was operating 24 restaurants in southern california . the company incorporated in 1966 as carl karcher enterprises inc. and launched a major expansion of the chain in 1968 . the menus were limited for faster service featuring charbroiled hamburgers hot dogs fries and malts . 7 1970s edit by 1975 there were more than 100 carl s jr. locations in southern california and the company expanded into the northern part of the state . carl s jr. celebrated its success by building its anaheim corporate headquarters in 1976 . the following year it became the first qsr chain to offer salad bars in all 200 locations . the first out of state restaurant opened in las vegas in 1979 . by the end of the decade sales exceeded the 100 million mark . 8 1980s edit in 1980 the company hired its 10 000th employee doubling its employee count in just three years . in 1981 with 300 restaurants in operation carl karcher enterprises became a publicly held company . in 1984 carl s jr. was franchised for the first time . carl s jr. s menu expanded during the decade with the addition of the western bacon cheeseburger breakfast items a charbroiled chicken sandwich line and self service soda fountains . by the end of the decade sales topped 480 million at 534 restaurants . the company also opened its first international units in the pacific rim . in addition carl s jr. was one of the first chains to introduce a debit card payment system inviting customers to use their atm cards in the restaurants . 9 a carl s jr. in rancho cordova california in 1988 karcher and his family were accused of insider trading by the securities and exchange commission . they had sold large quantities of stock before the price dropped . karcher agreed to a settlement with the sec and paid more than half a million dollars in fines . 10 1990s edit carl s jr. chains had struggled to gain success in arizona and texas perhaps diminishing hopes of expansion to other states though later states like nevada oregon and washington proved successful . during the 1990s karcher and the board of directors began clashing often publicly over marketing and business practices including the chain s attempt at dual branding with such chains as the green burrito and its new advertising campaigns . karcher was removed as chairman of the company by its board of directors on october 1 1993 . 11 soon after the board of directors took a new approach by cutting the menu lowering prices and introducing a new marketing campaign which targeted younger urban and suburban males . 12 following don karcher s untimely death in 1992 a new management team was installed in 1994 headed by ceo william p. foley ii and president and chief operating officer tom thompson . carl karcher enterprises became a wholly owned subsidiary of cke restaurants holdings inc. 13 during the mid 1990s carl s jr. unveiled its if it doesn t get all over the place it doesn t belong in your face campaign which featured younger people eating carl s jr. s burgers with ketchup and juice dripping from the burger and onto clothes and other areas . 14 carl s jr. in denton texas carl s jr. in missouri city texas in 1997 cke restaurants acquired hardee s a restaurant chain with 2 500 locations in the midwest south and east coast regions . 2000s edit in 2001 carl s jr. introduced the thickburger line with the 1 2 lb . six dollar burger with sister chain hardee s following in 2003 . in 2002 cke restaurants acquired santa barbara restaurant group the parent company of the green burrito brand . some carl s jr. and hardee s stores are now co branded with green burrito . 15 in 2003 the company moved its headquarters to carpinteria calif. 16 in 2005 carl s jr. introduced hand scooped ice cream shakes and malts . on january 11 2008 carl karcher the founder of hamburger chain carl s jr. died at the age of 90 . a spokeswoman for cke restaurants said karcher suffered from parkinson s disease and was being treated for parkinson s related pneumonia when he died at st. jude medical center in fullerton california . many carl s jr. restaurants flew their flags at half staff in memory of karcher . 17 2010s edit in the 2010s carl s jr. and hardee s rolled out hand breaded chicken tenders . carl s jr. and hardee s began offering charbroiled turkey burgers in 2011 marking another industry first by becoming the first national fast food chains to offer turkey burgers . in july 2010 cke restaurants holdings inc. was acquired by columbia lake acquisition holdings inc. an affiliate of apollo management vii l.p. allowing cke to continue to grow and succeed as a privately held company under the ownership of apollo . in 2011 carl s jr. introduced made from scratch biscuits . on november 20 2013 roark capital group agreed to acquire cke from apollo for 1.65 1.75 billion . in december 2014 carl s jr. introduced the all natural burger featuring an all natural grass fed free range beef patty that has no added hormones antibiotics or steroids the first major fast food chain to offer an all natural beef patty on the menu . in december 2015 the all natural turkey burger was introduced the fast food industry s first . international edit as of march 2016 cke the parent company of carl s jr. and hardee s has a total of 3 664 franchised or company operated restaurants in 44 states and 38 foreign countries and u.s. territories . this includes restaurants in australia brazil china denmark japan mexico costa rica canada colombia guatemala honduras indonesia india malaysia vietnam pakistan philippines singapore thailand turkey and new zealand . the new restaurant cke the parent company of carl s jr. and hardee s will be opening soon in united arab emirates . in november 2015 carl s jr. opened its 200th restaurant in mexico . the brand first entered the market in 1991 . see also carl s jr. canada philanthropy edit cke conducts an annual stars for heroes in store fundraising campaign at both carl s jr. and hardee s to benefit u.s. military veterans and their families . since the program s launch in 2011 stars for heroes has raised nearly 5 million . sign for carl s jr and green burrito restaurant in bell california co branding edit in several western u.s. locations carl s jr. parent cke has begun operating co branded restaurants with its green burrito group . this same strategy has also been used by yum brands with its kfc pizza hut taco bell a & w restaurants and long john silver s concepts to expand brands without the additional expense of new buildings and land . 18 advertising edit when carl s jr. first started rebranding hardee s locations to the carl s jr. livery in 1999 both chains mostly kept separate ads . this changed with the now infamous paris hilton ad see below which aired as either for carl s jr. or hardee s depending on where the ads aired . this would continue with other ads for the next several years including ads by kate upton kim kardashian emily ratajkowski sara jean underwood 19 20 hannah ferguson heidi klum charlotte mckinney ronda rousey padma lakshmi 21 and hayden panettiere . 22 in the years before his death in 2008 karcher objected to the sexualized nature of the company s advertising and was reportedly just heartbroken that a company he founded on christian principles has taken such an amoral act . 23 paris hilton campaign edit in may 2005 carl s jr. introduced its spicy bbq six dollar burger in a television advertisement created by mendelsohn zien advertising which features paris hilton in a provocative swimsuit soaping up a bentley automobile and crawling all over it before taking a big bite out of her burger and giving her signature phrase that s hot . 24 with the two chains selling