CKE Sues Company It Says Is Cutting Into Buffet Line

CKE Restaurants Inc. has started a food fight with two companies that operate buffet-style restaurants.

The Anaheim-based parent company of the Carl’s Jr. chain filed suit last week against Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Buffets Inc. and HomeTown Buffet Inc., a San Diego-based restaurant chain that Buffets Inc. has agreed to acquire.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Utah is driven by CKE’s recent acquisition of Summit Family Restaurants Inc., a Salt Lake City company that has 16 HomeTown Buffet franchised restaurants in Western states.

CKE alleges that if Buffets Inc. carries through with its bid for HomeTown Buffets during an upcoming shareholders meeting, the resulting company would try to prevent Summit from opening more HomeTown franchises in its exclusive territory in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming. The suit alleges that HomeTown had promised Summit executives that they would be able to open dozens of new restaurants in the Western states, but that HomeTown has backed away from that stand in the wake of its proposed acquisition by Buffets Inc.

HomeTown and Buffets Inc. declined to comment on the suit, which seeks $160 million in actual and punitive damages.

CKE Restaurants operates 660 Carl’s Jr. locations and 28 Rally’s Hamburger restaurants. Summit has 77 restaurants, including the JB’s Restaurants, Galaxy Diners and HomeTown Buffets chains. Summit has 16 HomeTown Buffets up and running, and plans to add more, according to a CKE spokesman.

Greg Johnson covers retail businesses and restaurants for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5950 and at greg.johnson@latimes.com