2 CKE Execs to Take Top Jobs at Checkers Drive-In Chain

Two CKE Restaurants executives are leaving the burger chain to fill management positions at a financially struggling Florida restaurant chain in which CKE is taking an equity position.

CKE Regional Vice President Richard E. Fortman has been named president and chief operating officer of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants. CKE Chief Financial Officer Joseph N. Stein has joined the Clearwater, Fla.-based chain as executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

Fortman, 47, had been with the Carl’s Jr. chain for 27 years. In 1994 he was named regional vice president, in charge of 105 Los Angeles-area restaurants. Stein, 36, joined CKE 18 months ago after serving as senior vice president with Irvine-based Fidelity National Title Insurance Co.

The move solidifies the leadership role that CKE will play in Checkers, a double-drive-through burger chain that’s struggling to reverse a sales and earnings slide. Late last year, a group led by CKE acquired $35.8 million in Checkers debt in exchange for warrants for 20 million shares of Checkers common stock.

CKE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William P. Foley II last year was named to Checkers’ board of directors. Tom Thompson, who remains CKE’s president and chief operating officer, recently added the roles of vice chairman and chief executive officer at Checkers.

Checkers is the second double-drive-through burger chain in which CKE has taken a management role. Last year, CKE began operating a handful of Rally’s restaurants in the Southern California area. Industry analysts say that CKE hopes to use its restaurant operations expertise to turn the two money-losing chains around.

CKE is best known as the parent company of the Carl’s Jr. chain, but in recent months it has acquired Casa Bonita, a Texas-based taco chain and Utah-based Summit Family Restaurants, which operates restaurants in nine western states.