Founded in 1994 by Japanese chef Kunio Ichinose, Pepper Lunch operates 500 locations in 15 countries, but only has four locations in the United States, three of which are in Southern California and one in Las Vegas.
Growing up in the restaurant industry and being a child of the guy who started one of most successful fast food chains in America, Carl Karcher is always on the hunt for the next exciting concept to add to his portfolio.
The son of Carl N. Karcher, the founder of Carl’s Jr. restaurants, believes he found one in teppanyaki-style concept Pepper Lunch.
The owner of Franklin, Tennessee-based Carl L. Karcher Group, which operates 75 Carl’s Jr. units, 45 Jamba stores and seven Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurants in California, Arizona and Oregon, signed a 20-unit agreement with the fast-casual Japanese hot plate franchise for Southern California and Las Vegas.
“We have always been on the lookout for exciting new concepts, so when our broker told us about Pepper Lunch, I went to Las Vegas and ate there three days and was very impressed with the concept,” Karcher said in an email.
Carl Karcher is the owner of the Carl L. Karcher Group, which operates 127 restaurants across three brands.
Karcher, who began working in his father’s Carl’s Jr. restaurants at age 13 as a short order cook, said his group in the process of scouting sites for its Pepper Lunch restaurants and hopes to have the first two stores open in six to nine months. “That’s up to the cities giving us quick approvals,” he said.
Karcher is anticipating opening restaurants in the 1,800- to 2,400-square-foot range with indoor seating capacities of 75 to 100. He noted Domenic Bonnacci, the executive vice president and his partner at Carl K. Karcher Group, will lead operations for the company’s Pepper Lunch restaurants.
Founded in 1994 by Japanese chef Kunio Ichinose, Pepper Lunch operates 500 locations in 15 countries, but only has four locations in the United States, three of which are in Southern California and one in Las Vegas.
The company, which anticipates opening four more locations in California, Florida, Utah and Arizona between Thanksgiving and the end of January, positions itself as fast-casual brand that gets customers in and out in 20 minutes and for less than $20 per person.
Pepper Lunch ranks No. 206 on the Franchise Times Top 400 with $272 million in global sales. The initial investment for a Pepper Lunch location is $690,200 to $1,471,500.
Related story: Subway Veteran Takes on Growing Teppanyaki Franchise Pepper Lunch
Karcher in an announcement of the deal noted the simplicity of operations, the labor model and a rise in Asian culture and food concepts in the U.S. as other attractive elements of the concept.
A franchisee of Carl’s Jr. for 39 years, Karcher said he and a few other Carl’s Jr. operators began purchasing refranchised Jamba stores about 10 years ago. And with new builds and acquisitions, they’re among the largest Carl’s Jr. operators on the West Coast.
Pepper Lunch positions itself as fast-casual brand that gets customers in and out in 20 minutes and for less than $20 per person.
He said his group began looking for franchises that didn’t compete with their existing brands about five years ago, which led it to Dave’s Hot Chicken.
Related story: Son of Carl’s Jr. founder gets into Dave’s Hot Chicken
Karcher, a U.S. Army veteran who received numerous battle medals while serving in the First Cavalry Artillery Division during the Vietnam War, became a Carl’s Jr. general manager in 1972 at his father’s Anaheim and Fullerton, California stores. It was the first in a long line of management positions he would hold with Carl Karcher Enterprises, then the parent company of the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurant chains.
Carl’s Jr. landed at No. 42 on the Top 400 ranking with 1,728 units and $2.6 billion in global sales.