Finish Line Foods Inc. will open a Checkers Drive-In Restaurant in the former Original Burger Bros location on N. Dixie Hwy at 11^th St. in West Palm Beach, Florida in October. Finish Line Foods business partners Corey Kipp and Rikki Vaughn have been approved to open new Checkers restaurants in the West Palm Beach market and more are planned in Palm Beach County in the following year. “South Florida is a large territory with incredible room for expansion. We’re excited to bring Corey and Rikki on board to grow the brand,” said Jennifer Durham, Vice President, Franchise Development of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc.  After more than 20 years in investment banking, Kipp and his business partner Vaughn, a former McDonald’s executive, are the first franchisees approved to develop the South Florida territory in quite some time. “The West Palm Beach area provides plenty of room for expansion and offers us tremendous potential for growth,” said Kipp. The largest double drive-thru chain in the United States, Checkers features a menu of seasoned and seared burgers, hot dogs, wings, sandwiches, etc. Based in Tampa, Florida, the chain operates almost 800 restaurants and continues to grow. The franchise chain is currently focusing on growth in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, New York and Washington D.C, among other cities.  The restaurants include several building options including freestanding units and end cap units with drive-thrus, in-line walk-by locations in high density urban areas and non-traditional locations such as airports, universities, malls, etc. And conversions are also considered.

CATEGORY:   Quick Service Drive-Thru

Chain Name:  Checkers

Company Name:  Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc.

Street Address:   4300 West Cypress St., Suite 600, Tampa, Florida  33607

Tel:    813/283-7000                                                     Fax:  813/283-7208

Email:   development@checkers.com                  Website:    www.checkers.com

Menu Specialty:  Seasoned and seared burgers, hot dogs, wings, sandwiches, etc

Introduced:  1986 in Mobile, Alabama

No. of Locations:  Almost 800

Areas of Operation:  National

Types of Location:  Freestanding, end cap, in-line, non-traditional, malls, conversions

BusinessType (corp., franchise, jv):  Corporate, Franchises

Size Req’d:

Special Requirements (patio, drive-thru, etc):

Contact Name:  Enrique ‘Rick’ Silva – President, CEO

Terri Snyder – Exec Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer

Adam Noyes – Chief Restaurant Operations, Supply Chain Officer, EVP

Todd Lindsey – Sen. Vice President, CFO

Brian R. Doster – Sen. Vice President, Gen Counsel

Jennifer Durham, Vice President, Franchise Development

Lori Malcolm – SVP Human Resources

Marc Mediate – Vice President, Operations

REAL ESTATE REPRESENTATIVES:

FRANCHISE REPRESENTATIVES:

PARENT COMPANY: Checkers/Rally’s Drive-In Restaurants Inc., Tampa, Florida

Related Chains:  Rally’s Drive-In

Last Report:    Restaurant & QSR Expansion Report #105       Last Update: