History
An offshoot of the Tastee-Freeze company, it was named for the daughter of Tastee-Freez co-owner Leo Marantz, Carol.
Herb Slotnick bought the franchise rights for the New York area and started opening restaurants in the Syracuse, New York area in the early 1960s. They expanded over the years throughout New York state. During the 1960s, a yellow slug character served as Carrols' first mascot, replaced in 1974 by a young blonde boy wearing a tweed suit and a Fedora hat.
Most Carrols restaurant locations were converted to Burger King franchises in 1975, with less profitable stores shuttered. After the conversion, the Carrols brand was only found overseas in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Russia.
The Finnish group Carrols, openned up several locations in St Petersburg Russia in the mid to late 1990s. In 1998 they openned their first operation in Moscow, located at 'then' the new Ohotni Riad Mall. Unfortunately the Financial Crisis of 1998, didn't generate enough sales for their operations, and by 2000 all Carrol's in Russia were closed.
The Finnish restaurant company Hessburger started to buy out the last existing Carrol's locations in Helsinki Finland, mid 2000's.
In February 2011 the company announced it was divesting itself of its two Spanish themed chains, Taco Cabana and Pollo Tropical, in a spin off aimed at helping the company focus on its core Burger King operations. The sale of the two chains, collectively called the Fiesta Restaurant Group, was completed in May 2012.
Read more about this topic: Carrols Restaurant Group
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