CHAINS MERGING MENUS DINERS GET TACOS AT CARL'S JR. OR BURGERS AT KOO KOO ROO.Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer Restaurants have introduced many a great combo. Sweet and sour sweet and sour adj → agridulce . Coke and fries. But roast turkey and cheeseburgers? Pizza and fried chicken Fried chicken is chicken which is dipped in a breading mixture and then deep fried, pan fried or pressure fried. The breading seals in the juices but also absorbs the fat of the fryer, which is sometimes seen as unhealthy. ? The smells of at-odds foods mingle more frequently these days as restaurant chains The following is a list of restaurant chains. See also: Fast-food restaurant, Casual dining, List of reference tables. International
Fuddruckers became the latest to combine two concepts, popping up in Koo Koo Roo in the past month. Late last year the burger specialist bought the chicken purveyor (World-Wide Web) Purveyor - A World-Wide Web server for Windows NT and Windows 95 (when available). http://process.com/. E-mail: <info@process.com>. , which operates 18 fast-casual spots throughout Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , and now at least six of the stores sell both burgers and chicken. The move reflects a growing movement in the restaurant business as chains strive to fill out menus and grab more dollars. Those that successfully combine concepts bring in new customers and add sales, leading restaurant experts to expect the trend to continue. CKE CKE Clock Enable (memory signal) CKE Carl Karcher Enterprises, Inc. (restaurant chain) CKE Certified Kitchen Design Educator CKE Catia Knowledge Engineering CKE Content and Knowledge Engineering Restaurants Inc., owner of Carl's Jr. and Green Burrito Green Burrito is an American fast-food restaurant chain run by CKE Restaurants, Inc., located mostly on the Western Half of the United States in Pacific, Mountain and West Coast regions, and serves fast-food Mexican food. , first married its two concepts nine years ago. Though the Carpinteria-based chain has nearly eliminated its stand-alone Green Burritos, its 207 dual-concept restaurants - roughly one-fifth of the chain's restaurants - perform significantly better than traditional Carl's Jr. restaurants. ``It helped us eliminate the veto vote,'' said Caroline Leakan, vice president of corporate communications Corporate communications is the process of facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals that have a direct relationship with an enterprise. for Carl's Jr. ``Typically, when you have a group of people heading out for fast food, someone wants a burger; someone wants Mexican food. This way, we could offer our core products and a Mexican meal, too.'' The chain spends little money or effort promoting Green Burrito compared with its flagship chain, but the Mexican fare pitches in nicely to sales. In the most recent quarter, regular units saw average sales of $1.17 million, while dual-concept stores sold an average of $1.3 million, an increase Leakan termed significant. Other operators use the dual-branding to stretch out dining hours, drawing the lunch crowd back with different fare. Realizing that traditional Mexican desserts didn't necessarily lend themselves to fast food, operators of the Mexican-themed chain El Pollo Loco El Pollo Loco is a fast-food restaurant chain and Mexican grilled chicken franchise. "El Pollo Loco" is Spanish for "The Crazy Chicken". Juan Francisco Ochoa started the restaurant in Guasave, Mexico, in 1975. began franchising Foster's Freeze ice cream in their restaurants in 1994. The partnership now operates at 52 percent of El Pollo Loco's 275 locations, selling cones, shakes and sundaes. ``We were looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a quality dessert to target moms and children,'' said Lisa Munro, El Pollo Loco's brand marketing manager. ``With ice cream, it really expands our (sales) day. Someone can come in before lunch for a cone, later on at 3 p.m., or for an evening snack after dinner.'' Fuddruckers officials have said little about their plans since the chain acquired Koo Koo Roo, but they have stocked some of the chicken shops' kitchens with racks of freshly baked buns and have installed condiment bars in the dining rooms. Restaurant experts figure that the addition of the hefty hamburgers is aimed at drawing in diners who would normally eschew Koo Koo Roo's healthier chicken offerings. With the differentiated menu, eaters can also grab burgers for lunch, then take chicken home for dinner. The menu has fewer offerings than a full-range Fuddruckers, found locally in Sherman Oaks and Burbank, but industry followers think that could change. While the burgers currently co-exist with their chicken predecessors, Richard Martin The name Richard Martin can refer to different people:
``Maybe they're looking to see if they can phase some of the Fuddruckers into the market,'' Martin said. ``If the market here likes burgers and fries better, you could see them ease chicken out and reopen (some Koo Koo Roo outlets) as Fuddruckers.'' Brent Hopkins, (818) 713-3738 brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Co-branding, as at this Carl's Jr. and The Green Burrito in West Hills, is gaining popularity in fast-food restaurants. (2 -- color) In Encino, an American dessert accompanies a Mexican meal at an El Pollo Loco, which has been franchising Foster's Freeze ice cream in its restaurants since 1994. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer |
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