Deal Completed to Establish Carl’s Jr. in 9 Pacific Nations

As expected, Carl Karcher Enterprises Inc. announced Friday it signed a licensing agreement with a Malaysian partner to bring the Famous Star hamburger and the other offerings of its Carl’s Jr. restaurants to nine Pacific Rim nations.

Karcher signed the deal with MBf International, a financial services company based in Kuala Lumpur. MBf plans to open a Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Malaysia next year and others later in Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. The company also hopes to expand the fast-food chain into Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and New Zealand.

Steve Kishi, Karcher’s vice president for international operations, said that MBf will put up the money for the project and pay royalties to Karcher. Anaheim-based Karcher will lend the Carl Jr.’s name, products, know-how and marketing expertise to the venture.

As a licensee, Kishi said, MBf will have greater flexibility in developing new products than the 550 company- or franchise-owned Carl’s Jr. restaurants in California, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon.

That feature could prove important in markets such as Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim nation where pork is generally not eaten. Given such local tastes, he said the chain’s “western bacon cheeseburger” may be reformulated for the market.

“We may get the product with same taste but without the pork bacon,” he said.

Already, Kishi noted, the Pacific market has such all-American favorites as McDonald’s, Wendy’s and White Castle. He added, however, that Carl’s Jr. restaurants should be successful with a more upscale line of fast-food that will cater to the growing affluence of Pacific Rim nations.

The deal with MBf marks Karcher’s second move into the Far East. In 1988, Karcher teamed up with Friendly Corp. of Osaka, Japan, to bring Carl’s Jr. to that nation.