Carl’s Jr. starts making its burgers to order

The fast-food chain has changed the way it makes its burgers and says the results have improved customer scores and reduced waste. Carl’s Jr. is betting that freshly made burgers will become a big draw in a competitive market.

The fast-food chain, part of the Tennessee-based CKE Restaurants but which operates most of its units in California and other western states, has shifted its kitchen operations to make its burgers to order. The idea, simply put, is that freshly made burgers will improve the chain’s competitiveness in a brutal burger market.

“When you get your burger that is freshly cooked to order with crisp lettuce, melty cheese, there’s nothing like that pristine experience,” Iwona Alter, Carl’s U.S. president, said in an interview to be featured in an upcoming episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive. “When a guest comes up, whether it’s through the drive-thru or in the restaurant, we put our patty on the char grill and start making the burger.”

It sounds simple, she said, but it really isn’t. “It’s basically transforming an operational system of the restaurant,” Alter said. Carl’s has struggled in recent years as its unit volumes have fallen and some stores have closed. Its system sales declined 6% last year, according to Technomic, while 3.9% of the chain’s locations shut down.

Unit volumes are down 11% from their all-time peak of just under $1.6 million in 2022. The burger business as a whole has been sluggish in recent years, as consumers have cut back on their visits amid pricing and inflation concerns.

Sales at burger chains rose just 1.4%. That means brands like Carl’s are competing over a shrinking pie.

More chains are working to upgrade the quality of their menu items in a bid to make their offerings more attractive to consumers and win over those more skeptical consumers. “Their expectations absolutely have evolved,” Alter said. “They are expecting, for their hard-earned dollar, the best possible quality.” Carl’s has some clout with the consumer, at least when it comes to quality.

It has better customer satisfaction scores than the bulk of its competitors, at least outside of brands like In-N-Out and Culver’s, according to data from Technomic. “Carl’s is all about quality and crazy great flavor,” Alter said. “That was the foundation.”

But, as she said, it’s not so simple. Carl’s operates just under 1,000 units in the U.S., and all but 50 are operated by franchisees. Preparing items to order is a big operational change.

Carl’s operations team worked to determine how the process change would work inside the kitchens. Patties are placed on the grill the moment an order comes in.

But the team had to determine when to start grilling the buns. The company then tested the change in several markets, both in company and franchised locations. Alter said the results were clear.

Customer-service scores improved immediately. The company also cut waste, because the only items made are those that are ordered.

“The teams started getting great feedback from their regular customers,” Alter said. Customers noticed the burgers were hotter and fresher, she said.

Once the process was defined, she said, the company began training employees, including webinars and hands-on training with district managers and franchise business consultants. The change was rolled out market by market.

“The majority of our QSR burger competition is not cooking to order,” Alter said. She also added that the company is doing other things that lead to improved quality.

And she hinted at more improvements to come. “We’re also slicing our lettuce and tomatoes every day in the restaurants,” she said. “We’re grilling the buns.” “We’re going to be introducing some additional improvements for a better burger, such as butter toasting those buns and adding some seasoning to the burgers,” Alter added. “So it’s a simple sandwich, but it has so much going on in terms of delivering that flavor.”