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Checkers and Rally's

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. is an American fast food double drive-through chain franchise in the United States. The company operates Checkers and Rally's restaurants in 20 states and the District of Columbia. They specialize in hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, milkshakes, and drinks.

Overview

Originally separate companies serving different geographic areas (with Checkers serving the Southeast and Rally's serving the Midwest), Checkers and Rally's merged in August 1999. Generally speaking, the Checkers name remains used in the Southeast as well as the Northeast while the Rally's name remains used in the Midwest as well as California; the two brands have overlapped in several areas.[4]

The merged company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Most locations specialize in carryout service with drive-through and "walk-up" windows available, but no indoor seating, though some legacy Rally's locations in the Midwest retain dining rooms, as well as two Checkers locations with indoor dining areas in Clearwater, Orlando, and Tavares, Florida.

Checkers was founded in 1986 in Mobile, Alabama by Jim Mattei and went public in 1991. Rally's was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1985 by Jim Patterson.[5] In 1991 and 1992, Rally's absorbed Maxie's of America, Snapps Drive-Thru and Zipps Drive-Thru.[6]

In 1996, Rally's was bought by CKE Restaurants, a parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. CKE sold Rally's to Checkers in 1999. Unlike the two CKE chains (which have at various points flip flopped between marketing Carl's Jr. & Hardee's as one chain or separate regional chains that both share Carl's Jr's Happy Star logo and imaging, but have largely separate menus), Checkers promptly merged Rally's into its branding, and the two chains are now only different by name.

In June 2006, the company went private through a merger with Taxi Holdings Corp., an affiliate of Wellspring Capital Management, a private equity firm. In 2014, Wellspring sold Checkers to another private equity firm, Sentinel Capital Partners.[7] On March 23, 2017, Checkers announced that it would be sold to Oak Hill Capital Partners for $525 million.[8] The sale was completed a month later.[9]

On May 23, 2018, Checkers announced a planned expansion for over two dozen locations in the Pittsburgh area. Despite Rally's having brand recognition in the area the locations were to be branded as Checkers.[10][11] The company made its official return in the area in 2019 under the Rally's brand with the opening of a location in Penn Hills.[12]

In February 2020, Checkers & Rally's named Frances Allen, former CEO of Boston Market, as their new CEO. She left the position in April 2024 and was replaced by Chris Tebben, former President of Mars Retail Group, in September 2024 .[13][14]

Advertising and promotions

One of the first advertising campaigns by Checkers and Rally's from 1999 to late 2000 featured the slogan "High Performance Human Fuel". The television advertisements for the campaign were animated in an anime style, featuring a woman named Holly, in pursuit of fast food. The ads were created by Crispin Porter & Bogusky,[15] and illustrated by Peter Chung, who was also responsible for the animation of MTV series Æon Flux.[16]

In September 2007, ML Rogers, an advertising agency, won the advertising rights for Checkers Restaurants, and completely restructured the advertising campaign. Among the many changes is their new slogan, "little place. BIG TASTE", beginning October 2007.[17] In 2007, the chain used a character called Rap Cat, a stuffed animal cat who performs a rap song about the chain. The ad campaign became popular after it became a viral video on YouTube.[18] The company gave away paper bags patterned like a basketball jersey to be worn by cats, with slots to cut out for the legs and tail, and asked customers to post videos of their cat wearing it to a Rap Cat website. This received criticism from animal rights activists, though Checkers stated that the packaging was "intended only as a creative extension of our television campaign."[19][20]

In September 2014, they started to have a character called Mr. Bag, a talking bag who appears in the new commercials for Checkers and Rally's.

In September 2016, rapper and restaurateur Rick Ross stated his plans for a partnership with Checkers and Rally's, including ownership of a few franchises.[21] He opened his first franchise location in Miami in early 2017.

As of 2025, the chain offers various limited-time specials including meal bundles and discounts on select items.[22]

Security and privacy

On May 29, 2019, Checkers and Rally's disclosed a long-running data breach that affected an unknown number of customers at 103 of its Checkers and Rally's locations, with some being infected with a point-of-sale malware as early as 2015.[23]

External links

References

  1. Checkers Drive-In – Burgers - Fries - Cola - Wings www.checkers.com^
  2. Checkers Locations August 8, 2021, retrieved August 8, 2021^
  3. Rally's Locations August 8, 2021, retrieved August 8, 2021^
  4. The Evolution of Checkers/Rally's QSR, February 23, 2012, retrieved October 11, 2025^
  5. Caitlin Bowling. Franchisee plans to expand Rally's Hamburgers brand in Kentucky Insider Louisville, April 1, 2018, retrieved August 6, 2019^
  6. Rally's History fundinguniverse.com, retrieved April 4, 2018^
  7. Checkers, Rally's operator to be acquired by Sentinel Capital Partners - Corporate content from Nation's Restaurant News retrieved October 6, 2015^
  8. Julie Jargon. Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Agrees to Be Sold in $525 Million Deal The Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2017, retrieved August 7, 2019^
  9. Oak Hill, Sentinel seal $525M transaction PitchBook, April 26, 2017, retrieved May 23, 2020^
  10. Eric Heyl. Checkers & Rally's Extending Fast Food Footprint To Pittsburgh Patch Media, May 23, 2018, retrieved August 7, 2019^
  11. Mary Pickels. Checkers & Rally's plans two dozen restaurants around Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 25, 2018, retrieved August 7, 2019^
  12. Eric Heyl. Rally's Returns to Pittsburgh patch.com, August 4, 2019, retrieved June 12, 2024^
  13. Checkers & Rally's seeks CEO as Frances Allen steps down Nation's Restaurants News, April 4, 2024^
  14. Checkers & Rally's CEO resigns Restaurant Dive, April 5, 2024^
  15. New Campaign: Hi-Performance, Human Fuel QSR, January 12, 2000, retrieved August 7, 2019^
  16. T.w. Siebert. Checkers, Rally's Given 'Toon Up Adweek, January 17, 2000, retrieved June 12, 2024^
  17. Checkers®/Rally's® Launches New Advertising Campaign Franchising.com, October 18, 2007, retrieved August 7, 2019^
  18. Bryan Urstadt. How Rap Cat Made It into This Headline New York Magazine, July 6, 2007, retrieved June 12, 2024^
  19. Bill Varian. Bag the cat? Uh, promo might not be good idea St Petersburg Times, February 20, 2007, retrieved January 1, 2010^
  20. Gregg Cebrzynski. Checkers' Rapcat raises issue of 'edginess' in online promos Nation's Restaurant News, March 5, 2007, retrieved January 1, 2010^
  21. Biz Jones. RICK ROSS BURGERS UP, GOES FACE-TO-FACE W/ CHECKERS BAAWWWWSE: 'WE GON DO IT DIS BIG' sohh.com, September 22, 2016, retrieved November 22, 2016^
  22. Checkers Specials – Limited-Time Offers and Deals CheckersMenus.com, May 9, 2025, retrieved May 9, 2025^
  23. Catalin Cimpanu. Checkers restaurant chain discloses card breach ZDNet, May 30, 2019, retrieved June 12, 2024^