A popular fast food franchise could come to Beaver County and is looking for potential franchisees to open a store here.
A popular fast food franchise could come to Beaver County and is looking for potential franchisees to open a store here.
Checkers and Rally’s, a company that operates 875 stores in 28 states, specializes in hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and milkshakes. Checkers and Rally’s previously operated independently from one another but merged into a single company in 1999.
Bruce Kim, the director of franchise development for the company, said Checkers and Rally’s is looking to build up to two dozen new locations in western Pennsylvania. The first restaurant is planned for the Penn Hills area in Allegheny County, and it will open early next year.
Kim said all of the stores that might open in western Pennsylvania will be branded as Checkers restaurants, but in name only.
“Checkers and Rally’s are the exact same brand with the exact same food,” Kim said. “The restaurants are exactly the same, but the name is different.”
Kim added that Rally’s has a strong customer base in Midwest states like Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. It only made sense for the combined Checkers and Rally’s to make its entry into the Pittsburgh market, he said.
“We’re not huge, but we’re not small either,” he said. “It was only a matter of time before we came to the market, and now we’re ready to do that.”
Kim didn’t offer an exact location of where the company might build in Beaver County, but did say he’s interested in talking to local residents who are interested in becoming a franchisee.
Those who are interested must have business and management experience, Kim said, and they ideally will have experience in the fast food restaurant business.