Syracuse-based Carrols Restaurant Group, the last vestige of a fast-food chain that once dominated upstate New York, is about to disappear again.
The parent company of Burger King is buying out Carrols in the U.S. for about $1 billion. Carrols, the nation’s largest Burger King franchisee, runs 1,022 Burger King restaurants in 23 states, or about 15% of all U.S. Burger King locations. It also owns and operates 60 Popeyes.
But more than a half-century ago, Carrols was a popular fast food joint in it’s own right, with burgers. fries and triple-thick shakes that rivaled McDonald’s and Burger King.
Carrols brought Club Burgers, Looney Tunes glasses to Rochester
McDonald’s had the Big Mac and Burger King had the Whopper, but Carrols had the Club Burger. Carrols also sold popular Looney Tunes drinking glasses that can still be found today.
Carrols moved into the Rochester market in the 1960s and, at its peak, had about 150 outlets, mostly in upstate New York and Pennsylvania. By 1977, all but one of the Carrols restaurants was gone, gobbled up by competition from the escalating fast-food wars.