Who founded Carl's Jr. after starting a Los Angeles hot-dog cart in 1941?

Carl Karcher founded Carl's Jr. after starting a Los Angeles hot-dog cart in 1941.

Karcher and his wife, Margaret, began the business with a $311 loan, using their car as security. They initially sold hot dogs and tamales from a pushcart in Los Angeles. After building the business, Karcher opened a drive-in restaurant in Anaheim in 1945.

The smaller “Junior” restaurants were introduced later to complement the company's larger Carl's Drive-In Barbecue restaurants. That naming distinction produced the Carl's Jr. brand. The chain became particularly associated with charbroiled hamburgers and expansion throughout the western United States.

Carl Karcher is sometimes confused with other Southern California fast-food founders, including Glen Bell of Taco Bell and the McDonald brothers. Their companies developed separately, although all helped shape the region's postwar drive-in and quick-service restaurant culture.