Say goodbye to Big Carl as Carl’s Jr leaves Thailand by the end of March

[webfact]

 

By Porpor Leelasestaporn

 

More sad news for fast food burger lovers as Carl’s Jr plans to close all 6 branches in Thailand by the end of Mar. 

 

R&R Restaurant Group, which holds the rights to operate the burger chain, revealed they could no longer bear the cost to keep Carl’s Jr going. 

 

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Full story: https://bk.asia-city.com/restaurants/news/say-goodbye-to-big-carl-carls-jr-leaves-thailand-end-march

 

-- © Copyright BK 2022-03-16

 

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[EdrigoSalvadore]

I will miss them. Hard to find hard quality food around Pattaya

[nightfox]

I hope they don't replace Carl Jr's with Jollibee's as at least the burgers at Carl's are decent. 

[Skeptic7]

Surprised to learn Carl's Jr was even here in Thailand, but not surprised they are pulling out. Wouldn't go anyway as don't imbibe in "Fat Food". However just noticed a Tim Hortons on Rama IV the other day. Also surprised to see Went for coffee once or twice in The States, as heard they had superb coffee. It was OK but nothing special. Wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Tim is pulling up stakes and bailing along with Carl. 

[wombat]

2 hours ago, nightfox said:

I hope they don't replace Carl Jr's with Jollibee's as at least the burgers at Carl's are decent. 

Really?

I went to try their burgers on the recomdation of an American friend and I found them to be so ordinary I haven't gone back for a second one.

[Real Name Hidden]

It’s a shame, the best fast food burgers in Thailand, and the milkshakes were pretty good too.

[Ralf001]

Hopefully Hungry Jacks replaces them, love me a Mega Jack burger !

[Henryford]

Times must be bad when even the best burger joints are leaving.

[LALes]

Damn, I just had their big double cheeseburger a few days ago.  Been going to the Central Pattaya branch since they opened over 10 years ago.

Sad news.  Waaaaay better than McD or Burger King.  Another one bites the dust.

[bang saen guy]

1 hour ago, wombat said:

Really?

I went to try their burgers on the recomdation of an American friend and I found them to be so ordinary I haven't gone back for a second one.

You burger experts will still have McDonald's

[tonray]

9 minutes ago, bang saen guy said:

You burger experts will still have McDonald's

It will be swamped with all the Russian tourists....ha ha ha ha

[hotchilli]

14 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Times must be bad when even the best burger joints are leaving.

Times are good, can look for some real healthy food instead of fast food junk.

[KhunLA]

3 hours ago, EdrigoSalvadore said:

I will miss them. Hard to find hard quality food around Pattaya

No loss.  If memory serves, they sourced their patties from the same as BK.

[bbko]

3 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

No loss.  If memory serves, they sourced their patties from the same as BK.

From the link:

But we were forced to import our ingredients solely from the U.S. due to the restrictions imposed by CKE Restaurants Holdings.”

[impulse]

2 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

No loss.  If memory serves, they sourced their patties from the same as BK.

According to the linked article, one of the reasons they couldn't afford to stay in business is because they had to import all their ingredients from the USA.

 

I enjoyed Carl's because they served fresh brewed iced tea on a free refill basis, with lemon wedges available.  They also had genuine napkins on the tables instead of having to ask for them.  And their burgers were generally good, with one inedible one at their Silom store, but just one time out of a few dozen that I ate at the 3 Carl's I knew in BKK.   I had to wonder why they opened one up right next to Burger King around Nana...  But I ate there often.

[KhunLA]

4 minutes ago, bbko said:

From the link:

But we were forced to import our ingredients solely from the U.S. due to the restrictions imposed by CKE Restaurants Holdings.”

Hmm ... maybe not ????  Explains that, not the best business plan, importing from USA, instead of OZ or using local products.

 

Oh well ... plenty to fill void, and better IMHO.  Tried them once or twice, no loss.  

[bang saen guy]

22 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Times are good, can look for some real healthy food instead of fast food junk.

A list of healthy restaurants that are opening, please. Good to have someone with solid info. Thanks

[jacko45k]

40 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Times must be bad when even the best burger joints are leaving.

McD and BK are still a-plenty. Market saturation in the Cities maybe?

[redwood1]

Nooooooooo

 

First we lose A and W root beer and now Carls....

 

Carl's burgers are good, I like Central Festival Carls..

 

I have been waiting for years now to have a Hooters closing celebration.... But they just will not go out of business....

[ThailandRyan]

4 hours ago, nightfox said:

I hope they don't replace Carl Jr's with Jollibee's as at least the burgers at Carl's are decent. 

I actually liked eating Jollibee's when I was in the Philippines. Better than some of the other food down there.

[ThailandRyan]

13 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Nooooooooo

 

First we lose A and W root beer and now Carls....

 

Carl's burgers are good, I like Central Festival Carls..

 

I have been waiting for years now to have a Hooters closing celebration.... But they just will not go out of business....

We still have at least one A&W here at Terminal 21 in BKK on the lower floor.

[sungod]

Marketing not their strong point, never heard of them until this thread about closure.

[ThailandRyan]

Just now, sungod said:

Marketing not their strong point, never heard of them until this thread about closure.

You must not be from the US or ever visited the US at least on the west coast.  Carl's Jr. is amongst the big 6, McDonalds, Burger King, Jack in The Box, Taco Bell, and KFC are the others.  On the East coast They have different names for Carl's.

[KhunLA]

42 minutes ago, bang saen guy said:

A list of healthy restaurants that are opening, please. Good to have someone with solid info. Thanks

One good thing about the 'situation' the past 2 yrs, it weeded out the not so good restaurants that relied on the overflow of the better ones.

 

Sadly a few good upstarts, fell through the cracks, and simply bad timing, if not owning the building.  Was out & about, and happily our favorites were hanging in there, or doing a brisk business, as they always did.

 

Larger chains simply closing their tourist area franchises.  Even 7-11s.

[sungod]

18 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

You must not be from the US or ever visited the US at least on the west coast.  Carl's Jr. is amongst the big 6, McDonalds, Burger King, Jack in The Box, Taco Bell, and KFC are the others.  On the East coast They have different names for Carl's.

No I am not, nor the majority of the people in Thailand it seems.  We are talking Thailand here and I would imagine they were not basing their business model solely on American expats.

 

 

[swm59nj]

I’m not a big fast food eater.  There is a Carls down the street from my condo in Bangkok.  I tried it for lunch.  The food was horrible.  It was burger and fries. 
I actually tried Mos Burger.  Once in Tokyo. And here in Bangkok.  I thought the burgers and fries were pretty good for fast food. 

[greg71]

2 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Hopefully Hungry Jacks replaces them, love me a Mega Jack burger !

That would be Burger King here innit . 

[Letseng]

3 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Surprised to learn Carl's Jr was even here in Thailand, but not surprised they are pulling out. Wouldn't go anyway as don't imbibe in "Fat Food". However just noticed a Tim Hortons on Rama IV the other day. Also surprised to see Went for coffee once or twice in The States, as heard they had superb coffee. It was OK but nothing special. Wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Tim is pulling up stakes and bailing along with Carl. 

You find many good small cafés which roast their own coffee. No need to get coffee in Horton's or Starbucks.

[Mr Meeseeks]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

We still have at least one A&W here at Terminal 21 in BKK on the lower floor.

Will be gone soon, they are closing all A&W branches in Thailand.

[Ralf001]

29 minutes ago, greg71 said:

That would be Burger King here innit . 

Don't know, Ive never eaten Burger King.

 

Popped over to Aus last year and my friend brought me a takeaway Mega Jack meal, it was lush.

 

Do Burger King here do the Mega Jack ?