RETAILING : Karcher Enterprises Pays $3.1 Million for 10 Wendy’s Restaurants in Arizona

Carl Karcher Enterprises, the Anaheim-based fast-food chain, has paid $3.1 million for 10 Wendy’s restaurants in Arizona. The company plans to convert the stores to Carl’s Jr. restaurants within 60 to 150 days.

Karcher Enterprises has said that over the next 2 years it plans to add more than 100 company-owned restaurants and 20 franchised units to its inventory in the Western United States. Most of those stores are slated for Arizona and sections of Northern California.

Karcher Enterprises now owns or franchises 482 Carl’s Jr. restaurants in California, Arizona, Nevada and Southern Oregon.

Donald Karcher, company president, said buying the Arizona stores “strengthens our market share in a shorter time frame” than acquiring the stores one by one.

Karcher Enterprises undertook an ambitious expansion plan in 1984, only to hit tough times when the fast-food industry slumped. The problems, compounded by the collapse of the oil industry in the Southwest, led to the closing of 27 Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Texas and Arizona in January, 1987.

Even then, Karcher Enterprises executives said the chain would retain 26 Arizona restaurants and planned to continue building new Carl’s Jr. units in the “core areas of California and Arizona.”

Karcher Enterprises has since rebounded financially. Earlier this month, the company reported record profits of $20.8 million for the fiscal year ended Jan. 30, a 30% jump over $16 million posted in the prior year.