Dive Brief:
- Pepper Lunch, an “experiential” fast casual restaurant brand founded in Japan, has signed a 20-unit deal with the Carl L. Karcher group, a major QSR franchisee, the companies said Wednesday.
- The Karcher Group will develop Pepper Lunch units across Southern California — including South San Diego County, the Inland Empire and High and Low Deserts — and Las Vegas, according to the press release.
- Pepper Lunch is one of many Asian brands expanding in the U.S., including JINYA Ramen Bar, Bonchon Chicken and Jollibee, as Asian cuisines grow in popularity.
Dive Insight:
Pepper Lunch, which was founded in 1994 and has more than 500 locations worldwide, has five locations in the U.S., three of which are in California, one in Las Vegas and one in Guam, a Pepper Lunch spokesperson said in an email to Restaurant Dive. That distribution makes the Karcher deal a significant expansion of Pepper Lunch’s U.S. footprint.
The Karcher Group is a 127-unit franchise system that operates Carl’s Jr., Jamba Juice and Dave’s Hot Chicken locations.
“We are honored and humbled that an operator with such a legacy of success and experience is joining us as a franchise partner. Their 20-store commitment across a wide territory speaks to their belief in Pepper Lunch as a strong opportunity,” Pepper Lunch CEO Troy Hooper said in the press release.
Carl Karcher, son of the Carl Karcher who founded Carl’s Jr., said that Pepper Lunch was an attractive concept because of the “simplicity of the operation, the labor model, and the rise of Asian culture and food concepts in America” and that it was “differentiated from other brands we could operate.”
In an email to Restaurant Dive, a spokesperson for the brand said the stores require very little prep and can run with three to six employees during peak hours. Pepper Lunch primarily serves do-it-yourself Teppanyaki, a variant of Japanese cuisine where consumers cook the ingredients on a very hot plate, according to its website. Because of the DIY, experiential aspect, the restaurant requires little in the way of skilled labor, the spokesperson said, and it is not necessary to hire a prep or line cook.
In a statement emailed to Restaurant Dive, Karcher said he hopes to open the first two of his Pepper Lunch units within about nine months, but that timing depends on permitting and approvals. The group is in the process of selecting sites. Karcher said the stores will ideally be between 1,800 and 2,400 square feet, with seating for between 75 and 100 guests.
Pepper Lunch signed its first North American development agreements in 2023.
