Franchise information on Checkers

This writer can conveniently visit a Checkers/Rally restaurant, at least 11 of them, from where he currently lives in Staten Island, New York. The locations are among the current 820-plus stores found nationwide. Checkers/Rally competes strongly with other major players in the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry. It actively engages in branding itself in its identified market segment as the place to go when it comes to serving customers’ desires for “burgers, fries and colas” almost right away thru its standard double drive-thru lanes, offered at great values. It has grown since its establishment in 1986 in Mobile, Alabama, and has since merged with Rally (founded in 1985 in Louisville, Kentucky) in 1999.
Those on the look-out for franchising opportunities may well consider studying more closely what Checkers/Rally has lined up for its prospective franchisees. It explains most succinctly on its website why great opportunities await those who qualify, along the following critical areas: value network, expert franchise coaches, expert training (4-week intensive restaurant training program), marketing and advertising, and supply chain performance. See more content here.


Checkers/Rally gives extra emphasis on matching its requirements with the qualifications of a prospective franchisee. As such, a good match starts with the applicant-franchisee having at least a $750,000 net worth, and liquid assets of $250,000. You may actually be a current multi-unit/multi-brand franchisee, who’s wishing to beef up your portfolio. You may even be a budding entrepreneur, without previous restaurant management experience worth at least 3 years, and who’s looking forward to get your feet wet in operating your own Checkers/Rally’s restaurant – which is OK, depending on other factors, and as long as you’re willing to hire an Operations Manager as your operating partner in running the business.

Initial franchise fee is $5,000 per contracted restaurant, which you pay as you sign and hand over the Development Agreement and/or Franchise Agreement, the term of which is 20 years. Current royalty fee, payable bi-monthly, is calculated at 4% a month of sales. 

Checkers/Rally differentiates itself from competition on its strategy in franchising by keeping ownership and operations of at least 1/3 of the total number of restaurants. This situation allows the company to try and experiment “systems, methods, and solutions,” and subsequently learn from changes it plans to put in place to offer its targeted customers, implicitly recognizing how its segment of the market continues to evolve with its needs and wants. 

Subsequently, this approach may have allowed the company to peg its fees at 0.375% of sales for “point-of-purchase materials and other advertising related items used in Checkers restaurants.” For advertising, each restaurant pays a fee up to 5% of sales to a local advertising cooperative. Interestingly, the company owned restaurants pay the same advertising fee as with all the franchise restaurants.