CKE Restaurants Inc., parent company of St. Louis-based Hardee’s Food Systems Inc., said Thursday that it sold 11 Hardee’s restaurants in Missouri to Rising Stars LLC for an undisclosed sum, completing a refranchising program that began in April 2007.
The 11 units Rising Stars bought are in Jefferson City and Columbia, markets in which the franchisee also committed to build at least three new Hardee’s restaurants over the next five years, CKE said. Rising Stars’ principals, Steve Rosenfield and Buddy Brown, currently own and operate more than 100 Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Montana and Wyoming.
Carpinteria, Calif.-based CKE, said that under its refranchising plan, it has sold 238 Hardee’s units to franchisees and has commitments for 115 new franchise restaurants for those markets. CKE said it sold 38 units, or 19 percent more than originally planned, to meet demand for the units.