In this episode, Marissa breaks down how Carl’s Jr. stumbled in Australia despite the burger hype, revealing how poor location choices, pricing confusion, watered‑down branding, and inconsistent customer experiences turned excitement into disappointment, and more importantly, she shares the gold nuggets multi‑location brands can apply, entering the right markets, matching price to value, keeping brand identity strong, standardizing systems, and delivering experiences that beat hype every time, ultimately reminding us that big brands don’t automatically win, but smart strategies do, making this a must‑listen for anyone planning to expand, scale, or bring a brand into Australia.

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:13 – Carl’s Jr. Hype in Australia

00:01:30 – Competitors Already Raised the Burger Bar

00:02:22 – Location Missteps: Regional vs. City Culture

00:03:15 – Pricing Confusion: Premium vs. Average Quality

00:04:04 – Branding Watered Down, Identity Lost

00:05:11 – Inconsistent Service Across Stores

00:06:04 – Fierce Burger Competition in Australia

00:07:02 – Key Lessons for Multi‑Location Brands

00:08:31 – Why Carl’s Jr. Failed

00:08:40 – Strategy Strength Over Brand Size

00:09:13 – Growth, Positioning & Customer Journey Tips

You're scrolling on social media and you see a gloriously stacked,

juice-dripping, cheese-melting Carl's Jr

burger. You think, oh yeah, that's

what I want. Then Carl's Jr launches in

Australia. Cue the hype, the marketing, the

influencers biting into the burgers like they've just seen

heaven. Fast forward a few years and well, where did

they go? Stores are closing. locations disappearing.

So what happened? How did a global burger

giant struggle so hard in a market that

loves big burgers? So today, in this

episode, we're going to break down the missteps, the

missed match expectations, the operational cracks,

and the gold nuggets of wisdom multi-location brands can

steal from Carl's Jr.' 's Australian stumble.

Welcome to The Marketing Factory, where we don't blend in. I'm

Marisa Candy. Founder and recipient of Gold Stevie International

Business Award, among many others. And for over two decades,

I've helped businesses think differently about their marketing and

achieve powerful results. In this podcast, I'll share proven

strategies so that you can create profitable marketing campaigns

that drive real impact for your business. Ready

to become impossible to ignore? Let's get started. All

right, let's kick this off and talk about the hype versus

the reality. When Carl's Jr. entered the Aussie market, the

hype machine was on. Huge

burgers, Hollywood-style marketing, loud

branding, big American personality, a

cult following overseas. It had all the ingredients

for success, except one tiny detail.

Australians love big burgers, but we love

good big burgers. Brands like

Grilled and Betty's Burgers had already

raised the bar. Even Hungry Jack's, they've upped their

game, haven't they? It's like arriving late to

a party thinking your outfit will turn heads, only to realise everyone

else is dressed better than you. Carl's Jr. entered

the market with confidence, but not with competitiveness. Location,

location, oh, location. This

was one of the biggest fail points. Carl's

Jr. stores were often in regional areas. random

highway stops, far out of the way suburbs. Their

strategy was, let's start on the outside cities and build

brand awareness and then move inward. But here's

the problem. Australian's fast food culture is

city first, not region first. If customers can't

try your product easily, they can't fall in love with it, right? And

if they're not falling in love with it, they're definitely not driving two

hours for a burger. They don't

hear anyone saying, right, let's pack

the kids, drive 90 minutes and spiritually prepare

ourselves for Carl's Jr. No one. So

the next problem they had was a pricing problem. Carl's

Jr. positioned itself as a premium fast food

experience, but premium price plus

inconsistent product equals customer

confusion. Many Aussies but finally tried

it said things like, look, it's okay. It's

a bit dry, not worth the price. I

expected more. Ouch. Customers will pay

premium, but they will not pay premium for

average. Their value perception didn't match

their price point. Look at Domino's. They fixed

this by improving the product. Carl's Jr. didn't

quite get there. So now let's move on to their branding disconnect.

Carl's Jr. in the U.S. is known for its bold marketing, playful

humor, the cheeky ads, over-the-top characters. And

in Australia, they just toned everything down, like way

down. It became a watered-down version of

the U.S. identity, which again, confused the Aussie

market. You know, it's like buying a ticket

to go and see Beyonce and instead you get someone singing some

light karaoke in a corner. How do you feel? Betrayed. And

if you're a bold brand, be bold. If you're a premium

brand, be premium. If you're an American style

brand, don't try to become Australian light. Australians

appreciate authenticity and Carl's Jr. didn't

deliver a fully authentic U.S. experience

that we were all anticipating. Just quickly, if

you're a business owner struggling to see results from your marketing or

you're overwhelmed by the thought of marketing your business, we

can help. Book in a call with my team using the link in the show notes

and let's get your brand thriving without the struggle. Now, back

to the episode. Then, this is when

the multi-location chaos truly hit.

Customers were reporting inconsistent quality, slow

service, missing items. Burgers didn't match from store

to store. There was staff training gaps. There was

a lack of strong brand. Systems in multi-locations didn't

land. This, all of this, put it all together, is

death. If every location feels different, customers

just simply won't trust the brand. Domino's. They

won because of consistency. Carl's Jr.

lost because of inconsistency. You

can't claim American quality burgers and then serve six different

versions of the same burger depending on the store. This

is a burger experience. It shouldn't be a surprise. It's not

akin to surprise. It's dinner. Fast

food competition in Australia is fierce at

the moment. If you are in the fast food market, even

in food, hospitality, you know what I'm talking about. Carl's

Jr. wasn't entering a weak market. They were

entering a burger thunderdome. Australia, we've

already got Grilled, the health halo hero, Betty's

Burgers, the cute coastal favorite, and Hungry Jack's

strong loyalty base. Local burger joints, we've

got them kicking around everywhere, don't we? With hipsters, with beards, crafting

these artesian patties. And what did Carl's Jr.

bring? Big, loud, American, but

no unique advantage. they didn't carve a clear brand

position. And remember, a brand without a

strong position becomes background noise. So

what can multi-location brands learn from Carl's Jr mistakes?

And here is the gold. Glad you stuck around. One,

enter the market where your audience actually is. If your target

customers are city-based, build in the city. Okay.

Second, your price must match your value. Premium

marketing can't save average product quality. Number

three, keep your brand identity strong. Don't

dilute your personality just to fit in. Because remember this, difference

stands out. Bland simply disappears. Don't

blend in. Number four, standardise everything.

Your training, quality, process, service,

every store, every day. Number five, stand

for something clear. Why should customers choose

you over competitors? Simple question. And

if you can't answer that, they won't either. Number

six, experience always beats hype. You

can't hype your way out of a poor customer experience. So

to wrap up, Carl's Jr. didn't fail because Australians

don't like American burgers. We absolutely do. We

celebrate them. We romanticize them. we do taste

tests on TikTok just for fun. But Carl's Jr

failed because the product didn't meet expectations, the

stores weren't where customers were, the experience wasn't

consistent and the brand positioning didn't land. This

is a powerful reminder that multi-location success isn't

about the size of your brand, it's about the strength of

your strategy. So if you're planning to expand, open

some new locations or bring a brand to Australia,

you need the right foundation, positioning, consistency,

customer experience. That's exactly what

we help with here at The Marketing Factory. So if you want

some support for a multi-location growth plan,

some brand positioning that actually works, some clarity

before you scale, or a full customer journey assessment, reach

out now. Take action. Connect with me, Marisa Candy,

at The Marketing Factory. And remember, big brands

don't automatically win, but smart strategies do.

Now, I'm hungry. Someone bring me a burger. Thanks

for tuning into The Marketing Factory. If today's episode helped

bring clarity to your marketing strategy, please leave a five-star review

on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don't forget to

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on the socials at The Marketing Factory or at

The Marketing Factory AUS, and let's keep turning clarity