Happy Star Is Catching the Spirit of ’76 : Marketing: Carl’s Jr. and Union Oil agree to open small restaurants at 10 service stations in Southern California.

Fill ‘er up, check the oil, pick up half a gallon of milk and grab a burger, fries and a soft drink.

Carl’s Jr. and Union Oil Co. of California plan to further blur the line between retail and restaurant operations by testing consumer reaction to scaled-down restaurants inside FastBreak convenience stores at 10 Unocal 76 stations in Southern California.

The Carl’s Jr. restaurants opening later this year at Unocal 76 stations won’t be as large as the chain’s regular locations with indoor seating and salad bars, said CKE Restaurants Vice President Loren Pannier. But the company promises that its Happy Star hamburgers will be freshly char-broiled rather than reheated, and that pricing will be competitive.

“The emphasis will be on drive-throughs,” Pannier said. “And you’ll see the nucleus of the Carl’s Jr. menu, which is more than just burgers, fries and drinks.”

The service station-minimarket-restaurant concept is part of a trend to build restaurant revenue by taking the food to non-traditional locations, including airports, school cafeterias and shopping malls.

Several convenience stores offer prepared foods that are reheated for sale, said Ron Paul, president of Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based consulting firm. But very few offer freshly cooked items that are made to order. “With equipment and staffing costs, it’s very difficult to get good locations,” Paul said. “This is a very traffic-sensitive concept.”

Despite the roadblocks, a few fast-food chains are testing restaurant-convenience store combinations at service stations.

Rally’s Hamburgers, the Louisville, Ky.-based chain, operates about half a dozen gas station-restaurants, including one in Lakewood at a Unocal station. “It’s a good fit for us because we’re a double-drive-through restaurant with no indoor seating,” said Dan Dahlen, Rally’s marketing vice president.

Burger King has tested a scaled-down store at a gas station where “you can order your burger through a speaker at the gas pump and pick it up at the store,” said Robert Sandelman, a Brea-based restaurant consultant. “They’re trying to make it as easy as possible.”

While restaurants view service station links as a way to boost revenue, service station operators view the alliances as a consumer-friendly way to differentiate themselves in a price-driven business.

“Our goal is to offer quality, quick and convenient services for customers,” said Gary W. Sproule, a marketing vice president with Unocal’s Brea-based 76 Products Co. “Our alliance with Carl’s Jr. will help us achieve that goal.”

Sandelman suggested that car-happy Southern Californians will embrace the newest drive-through concept.

“When you think about it, every time a gas station goes out of business, a fast-food place goes up in its place,” Sandelman said. “This is just another evolution.”