Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. Unveils Restaurant of the Future: First Will Open by Summer 2021

Iconic Drive-Thru Brand's New Design Built to Enhance All Aspects of the Guest and Employee Experience and Deliver Strong Value for Franchisees

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Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc.

Jan 19, 2021, 16:30 ET

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., the parent company of Checkers & Rally's iconic drive-thru restaurants, unveiled plans for a restaurant of the future design on Wednesday at the ICR Conference, one of the largest investment conferences of the year. Construction plans are already underway to fully reimage the first restaurant in Lakeland, Fla., and it will be completed by early summer 2021.

The design rollout is a key piece of the brand's aggressive five-year growth plan that will be funded by the $20M capital injection that was announced earlier this week from Oak Hill Capital Partners IV (Oak Hill), a leading private equity firm and owner of the drive-thru concept.

"As an organization, we believe we have the opportunity to create big and small wins for our guests, employees, and communities every day, and this new building helps us do just that," said Frances Allen, President and CEO of Checkers & Rally's. "The new external design and reimagined kitchen will make it easier for us to serve hot, delicious food quickly for frictionless guest experiences. Our employees will be empowered to do a great job with new equipment in a building they can be proud of, and our new restaurants will be a bright, fun, stress-free places where members of our communities can feel appreciated and respected."

The restaurant of the future design brings a bold, contemporary style to Checkers & Rally's locations while honoring the brand's iconic image. But more than an exciting new look, the concept has also been designed to provide better experiences at the walk-up windows, patios, and drive-thrus. At the same time, the restaurant's interior has been arranged for greater crew comfort, easier order taking, and efficient service.

The restaurant of the future was also designed to ensure strong value for franchisees. Like Checkers & Rally's current modular buildings, the new design fits on a smaller real estate footprint than most other QSR concepts, and the interior has been engineered for efficiency and speed.

"With our traditional double drive-thru model, Checkers & Rally's has a 35-year head start on the drive-thru-only trend that we're seeing in QSR today," Allen said. "We also have tremendous growth momentum. In 2020, we added more than 70 locations to our pipeline, and we approved 40 new franchisees to join our system. Moreover, we have plenty of room to grow, with 3x white space in our existing markets and opportunities to expand to new markets as well."

After the first reimage is opened this summer, the brand plans to perfect the design based on learnings, and then rollout the model to its existing restaurant base as well as new company and franchisee restaurant development in the fall.

About Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc.

Based in Tampa, Fla., Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., an iconic and innovative drive-thru restaurant chain known for its bold, craveable food, famous fries, exceptional value, and people-first attitude, operates and franchises both Checkers® and Rally's® restaurants. With 836 restaurants and room to grow, Checkers & Rally's is a proven brand with flexible building formats that is aggressively expanding across the country. Checkers & Rally's is dedicated to being a place where franchisees and employees who work hard can create opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. In recent years, the brand has earned several of the industry's most prestigious awards including: "#1 Most Craveable Fries" by Restaurant Business; Best Franchise Deal and "Best Drive-Thru in America" by QSR Magazine; Top Food and Beverage Franchise by Franchise Business Review; the "Hot! Again" award from Nation's Restaurant News and has consistently been ranked on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500.

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SOURCE Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc.