What are the specific requirements for site selection for a Checkers franchise, considering both Item 9 and the potential for future growth and expansion?
Checkers Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
assistance.
Pre-Opening Obligations
We will provide the following pre-opening assistance:
- We will provide guidance to you in locating and developing the Franchised Restaurant as we deem appropriate. (Franchise Agreement, Sections 3.02 and 3.03);
If you have suggested a location for the Franchised Restaurant which we approve before or concurrently with the execution of the Franchise Agreement, the location will be identified in the Franchise Agreement. If we and you have not agreed upon an approved location for the Franchised Restaurant before signing the Franchise Agreement, then you must select a site for the Franchised Restaurant within the geographic area we designate ("Designated Area"). You must, within 180 days after the date of the Franchise Agreement, locate and submit for our approval a site acceptable to us within the Designated Area for the Franchised Restaurant. We will approve or disapprove each site that you propose according to our general criteria for selection of a Checkers Restaurant or Rally's Restaurant site. The site must meet our criteria for demographic characteristics; traffic patterns; parking; character of neighborhood; competition from, proximity to, and nature of other businesses; size; appearance; and other physical and commercial characteristics. We will use reasonable efforts to help analyze your market area, to help determine site feasibility, and to assist in designating the location, although we will not conduct site selection activities for you. We will provide you with our standard site selection criteria and on-site evaluations of sites, as we deem appropriate. If you enter into a Development Agreement with us, you must select sites within your specified Development Area and we will approve them in accordance with our then current criteria for selection of a Checkers Restaurant or Rally's Restaurant site.
Before you acquire, by lease or purchase, any site for your Restaurant, you must submit a franchise site package to us in the form, content and substance as we then require. We will review each site package and determine whether to accept or reject the site after considering factors we deem appropriate, including the general location and neighborhood, demographic information, traffic patterns, access, visibility, location of other restaurants and food establishments, and size, configuration, appearance and other physical characteristics of the site. We will use reasonable efforts to approve or disapprove the proposed site within 30 days after receiving your written proposal. Upon our approval of a site, we will insert the address into Exhibit B of the Franchise Agreement, and it will be the Premises. Within 60 days after our approval of a site for the Premises, you agree to deliver a copy of the fully signed lease, sublease or purchase contract and the franchise addendum to lease agreement. In some cases, we may sublease the Premises to you, but we do not typically do so.
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Checkers's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, site selection is a crucial step for franchisees, whether they are opening a single restaurant or developing multiple locations through a Development Agreement. Checkers provides guidance in locating and developing the franchised restaurant. If a location isn't agreed upon before signing the Franchise Agreement, the franchisee must find a suitable site within a designated area. This designated area is strictly for site selection and doesn't offer any territorial exclusivity.
For a single Checkers restaurant, the franchisee is responsible for selecting a site that meets Checkers's criteria. This includes factors such as demographic characteristics, traffic patterns, parking availability, the character of the neighborhood, competition, proximity to other businesses, as well as the size, appearance, and other physical and commercial characteristics of the site. Checkers will provide its standard site selection criteria and on-site evaluations to aid in this process, but the franchisee is responsible for the actual site selection. The selected site must be submitted for Checkers's approval within 180 days of signing the Franchise Agreement.
For franchisees pursuing a Development Agreement to open multiple Checkers restaurants, the site selection process is similar but occurs within a defined Development Area. The size of this area and the number of restaurants to be developed are determined by factors like population density and the area's residential or commercial nature. Checkers retains the right to approve the locations of these restaurants based on their then-current site selection criteria. While the Development Agreement grants the right to develop a certain number of restaurants within the Development Area, it does not provide an exclusive territory. This means franchisees may face competition from other franchisees, company-owned outlets, or other distribution channels.
Checkers also maintains control over lease agreements, with the right to approve the terms of any lease or purchase contract for the premises. Any lease must include specific provisions detailed in Checkers's required form of franchise addendum to lease agreement. This level of oversight ensures that the site aligns with Checkers's brand standards and operational requirements, regardless of whether the franchisee is opening a single location or multiple restaurants under a Development Agreement.