Carl's Jr. signals commitment to OZ market with the launch of their 3rd Global "Centre of Excellence"

The global burger's upcoming centre in the country is poised to be a hub for food and IT innovation.

QSR Media caught up with Jason Marker, Global CEO of the brand (and an Aussie!) and International President Ned Lyerly of CKE Restaurants to find out what’s next:

QSR Media: What’s been happening at Carl’s Jr?
International expansion is key component of growth platform for Carl’s Jr. We are planing on building 1000 restaurants in 5 years. This will represent 1/3 of our business.

We’ve experienced huge success in this part of the business.

QSR Media: What are your plans for Australia?
The current situation is we have 5 stores open currently with 11 slated for 2018 with 20 in the pipeline. Australia represents a big focus for us. We believe it really fits the Australian psyche. We have a unique niche which focusses on fantastic food, for example 100% angus beef, hand scooped shakes, a very premium offering thats sits at the top of the QSR Market.

As part of our commitment to Australia we will be opening a “Centre of Excellence” which will be an innovation hub.

We’re also looking to add some Australian Favourites to the menu, for example we're working with the team to develop beetroot and egg burger.

QSR Media: Tell us more about the "Centre of Excellence".

The Australian "Centre of Excellence" is one of our 3 global sites which sits alongside USA and Middle East. It will be a centre of food and IT innovation. We are also hiring country managers and marketing managers to help us with our 300 store rollout in the next 10-15 years and 18000 potential jobs.

QSR Media: You’ve been visiting some of your sites in the last week, what’s surprised you?

What's excited us is seeing the restaurants and the obvious opportunity in the market place. 3 of 5 have openings been in the top 5 international openings in the world. Our franchise partners are very bullish. Our biggest international challenge is how to grow in he most cost effective way.

QSR Media: What would you like to tell the Australian QSR market?

Carl’s Jr. is a fantastic and exciting opportunity. We’re looking for people to be part of it. It holds a very unique space in the market place. It's a taste that you can feel. It's a bold, exciting and disruptive brand.

(Photo credit: Carl's Jr./Supplied)

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