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Name: Alex Karcher
Title: Operating Principal
Company: JCK Restaurants
No. of units: 61 Carl’s Jr., 11 Jersey Mike’s Subs, 8 The Human Bean, 8 Dave’s Hot Chicken, 1 Hawaiian Bros Island Grill
Age: 33
Family: Parents, Joe and Cathleen Karcher, 2 sisters, Lauren and Emily Karcher, girlfriend, Callie, and dog, Oslo,
Years in franchising: 14
Years in current position: 5
How could Alex Karcher not end up in restaurant franchising? His grandfather, Carl Karcher, was the founder of Carl’s Jr., and his parents were multi-unit operators with the burger chain. He recalls people asking him while he was in elementary school if he would someday take over the family business. There were also times when his family would stop by one of their restaurants following a youth soccer game.
“My dad struggles to stop working,” Karcher says. “If we would go to one of our restaurants and he noticed something wasn’t operating properly, he would step behind the counter or conduct a check on the drive-thru line. Seeing his work ethic and dedication to providing the best service was a very big influence on me.”
Although it may have seemed like a natural move to work for his family at Carl’s Jr., Karcher decided to forge his own path by going away to college in San Diego and beginning a career in corporate finance. After nearly a decade away from home, he missed the connections to his family and returned to Oregon to join his parents and two sisters in working for their JCK Restaurant group.
Karcher’s parents first met at one of his grandfather’s restaurants in 1984 and became franchise owners with Carl’s Jr. five years later. They steadily grew the number of locations over the next few decades and currently own 61 Carl’s Jr. units while adding Jersey Mike’s Subs, The Human Bean, Dave’s Hot Chicken, and Hawaiian Bros Island Grill to their portfolio. The family prefers to operate restaurants that are within driving distance of their corporate headquarters in Eugene. All 89 of their franchise locations are in the Oregon and Southwest Washington markets.
After initially starting with special projects and financial planning for JCK Restaurants, Karcher was tasked with the strategic growth planning of one of the company’s newer brands, Dave’s Hot Chicken. He oversaw the early stages of each new restaurant, including the grand opening, initial operations, hiring, training, and staff development. In addition to opening nine new Dave’s Hot Chicken locations and continuing to oversee its growth, Karcher is applying the same strategic development to the company’s Hawaiian Bros Island Grill brand.
Karcher says that although his parents will always play a role in the business, there is a plan for them to step back from the day-to-day operations in the coming years. His sister, Lauren, serves as VP of operations, and another sister, Emily, works in accounting and project management.
“We prioritize family over business,” Karcher says. “We are fortunate that we have been successful enough that we have not had to make many really tough decisions. Our personal relationships allow us to be more honest with each other. We have a strong enough family dynamic to weather any tough storms that come our way.”
At 33, Karcher looks forward to taking on more responsibilities with the company and helping it to grow to 100 total restaurants in the coming years. He knows all future growth is based on the foundation built by preceding generations.
First job: A cashier at Carl’s Jr. My first day on the job was my 18th birthday.
Formative influences/events: My parents have been everything to me. They’re the epitome of strong, kind leadership. They have an amazing marriage, have always led together, and have set a great example of love for each other for my sisters and me. Their example taught me kindness, service, and what it looks like to lead with integrity. They never pressured me into the business while always keeping that door open.
Key accomplishments: I’m most proud of being named the inaugural Dave’s Hot Chicken Franchise Partner of the Year in 2022. Coming from a family of restaurateurs, I was always expected to follow in their footsteps. Dave’s Hot Chicken was the first brand I was entrusted to grow, so winning this award was a meaningful milestone in carving my own path in the industry. In 2024, we won the Spirit of the Founders Award, also with Dave’s. Recently, I’ve been tasked with growing our newest growth brand, Hawaiian Bros Island Grill.
Biggest current challenge: We are seeing some of the growing pains of building from a single-brand company to a larger-scale, five-brand enterprise. We are working hard each day to develop the internal processes, systems, and reporting to make life easier for our teams and support future growth.
Next big goal: We are close to hitting 100 units in our restaurant group, which will be a huge milestone for us.
First turning point in your career: When I was given the keys to lead our growth brand in Dave’s Hot Chicken. It was a heavy pivot into an operations role, and building this brand in our market has been one of the greatest joys of my life.
Best business decision: Stepping into operations and working with my family. I had focused my career on financial planning and analysis before, and shifting to operations allowed me to apply my strategic mindset in a more hands-on way. It’s been a rewarding and successful journey.
Hardest lesson learned: You can’t fix everything in one day. I’m someone who moves fast, so it was challenging to accept that lasting growth comes from incremental, compounded changes. Additionally, no matter how sharp your strategy is, strategy can’t fix a bad culture. You can feel a negative culture the moment you walk into a restaurant. It’s thick, soupy, almost humid, and uncomfortable to stand in. A strong, positive culture is what truly drives sustainable success.
Work week: If we’ve had a recent opening, it’s all hands on deck, and I’m typically at the location most days through the opening weeks. When things are settled in, I try to stick to weekdays and end each day at 6 p.m. to relax with my family.
Exercise/workout: I’m a morning person and do my best to get to the gym each morning before starting the workday. I like getting ahead of the day.
Best advice you ever got: Honestly, I don’t have a single piece of advice that stands out above the rest. Over the years, I’ve picked up countless bits of wisdom from friends, mentors, and experiences. The real takeaway is to keep learning and adapting and to find humor and perspective along the way.
What’s your passion in business? I’m passionate about crafting winning strategies and seeing our teams grow into leaders. The best days are when we promote team members and open new restaurants.
How do you balance life and work? Balancing life and work can be challenging since I love what I do, which often leads to long hours. To maintain balance, I have to remind myself to step away, whether it’s shutting off my phone for the night, taking a mental health day, or sneaking away for a weekend. Being proactive about downtime helps me stay balanced and energized.
Guilty pleasure: Besides the brands we operate, you can find me in a Taco Bell drive-thru more often than I’d care to admit.
Favorite book: For fiction, it is The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Nonfiction is Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Favorite movie: “The Shawshank Redemption.” It’s one of those films that, whenever it comes on TV, I find myself watching it all the way through.
What do most people not know about you? I am naturally pretty introverted. I need a bit of alone time after a big day or big week to recharge. I’m also a bit of a fantasy nerd with favorite authors like Brandon Sanderson and Pierce Brown.
Pet peeve: If you ever watch cooking videos on YouTube or TikTok, you know there’s always a moment when the host or influencer takes a bite out of the food they just made and lets out the most prolonged, embellished “mmmmm yummmm” of all time. I understand the need for showmanship, but it’s too much.
What did you want to be when you grew up? A professional soccer-playing priest. Other than that, however, I wanted to be like my dad and work for Carl’s Jr.
Last vacation: I was able to sneak out to Cannon Beach for a few nights in April 2025 with my girlfriend and our puppy.
Person you’d most like to have lunch with: Anthony Bourdain. I would love to hear about his combined life experiences, traveling the world and working in exceptional restaurants.
Business philosophy: We aren’t in the burger business; we’re in the people business. It is something I learned from my grandfather when he was building Carl’s Jr. restaurants. We are not solving cheeseburger problems, but people problems. Hiring the right people is worth it in the long run. We take care of our team, and the team takes care of the guests.
Management method or style: I challenge my team each day to be better than they were the day before. I celebrate their strengths and wins but try to spend the bulk of my time working with them on their growth opportunities.
Greatest challenge: Like many others in this industry, I have a fast-paced management style and high expectations. The biggest thing I hit my head against is the fact that we can’t fix everything in one day. Growth takes time, and I have learned to celebrate the small improvements and wins that compound into lasting success.
How do others describe you? I think they’d say I’m driven, competitive, and loyal. Someone who’s always looking for the edge but deeply loyal to the people in the fight with me. A little impatient. I push hard because I believe we can win. I also try to find humor in everything.
Have you ever been in a mentor-mentee relationship? What did you learn? Yes. My dad has always been my biggest mentor. Everything I’ve learned about prioritizing the value of guest experience and the fundamentals of the restaurant business, I learned from him. I also have a mentor-like relationship with our director of operations, Jeremy Johnson. He’s taught me a ton about developing people and prioritizing culture.
One thing you’re looking to do better: Lead through motivation and inspiration. The larger our organization grows, the less effective I can be working hands-on in the operation. I need to be able to work through our team.
How you give your team room to innovate and experiment: I’ve learned to hire the right people and get out of their way. Once we’ve identified the right person for the right seat, we set clear targets for their success and let them find the optimal path to our shared goals.
How close are you to operations? Never as close as I’d like to be. My favorite days are when I’m in the restaurant. When our franchise concepts are in their infancy, it’s easy to be in the house every day. As we grow, I’m required to spend more time on administration and planning.
What are the two most important things you rely on from your franchisor? For the most part, the flavor profile and quality of a brand are set before we sign on. I’d say the biggest things are creating a great vision for the future of the company and helping franchisees out with great marketing. To say it another way, “Where are we going, and how can we convey that message to our guests?”
What you need from vendors: Flexibility and to put their best bid forward first. We have vendor partners that we use exclusively because we have learned they are not going to overcharge us, and they will work with us to come up with the most mutually beneficial solution to any challenge.
Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the economy? How? As things get thinner, it’s hard to justify splurging or experimental marketing. We are more conscious of where we are investing our marketing dollars and rely on our strongest partnerships to drive growth.
How is social media affecting your business? Social media can be jet fuel for your business. Organic marketing with guests posting their self-generated content is as good as word-of-mouth endorsements. Mastering social media has been key for our growth brands.
In what ways are you using technology (like AI) to manage your business? I’ve seen a couple of good use cases for AI. One example is AI agents that sit in virtual meetings and transcribe and summarize them. You can then retroactively look up, “Oh, what did so-and-so say in that meeting?” It’ll have the information ready for you. Additionally, I’ve started using ChatGPT’s voice conversations more. You can use it for sales role-playing. For a restaurant example, have Chat pretend to be a guest so that your team can nail their scripting. I also use it to brainstorm while I’m on the road. I recently used it while on a two-hour drive to refine our bonus model and to reflect on potential pitfalls the rollout might have.
How do you hire and fire? We try to promote internally as much as possible. We’ve been burned once or twice by external hires that promise the world, and they end up not being culture fits. We find that people who already know our systems are a much better fit. With firing, we do it with as much documentation as possible and with as many second chances as we can stomach. We don’t like giving up on people.
How do you train and retain? For some of our brands, we have dedicated training specialists who uphold standards and manage new product rollouts. At our growth brands, a certified training coordinator or training manager ensures brand standards. We’ve also introduced a certified trainer role between team members and the shift lead. This is effectively a team member who has been certified in a variety of positions and can teach procedures to new employees. This not only improves quality and consistency, but also significantly increases the average length of service for those in the certified trainer role compared to a standard team member.
How do you deal with problem employees? Verbal coaching session, then written coaching session, and finally termination. Even the most skilled employees are not worth it if they are a drag on your culture and team morale. We elevate the employees who see the big picture, put “we” before “me,” and can train their replacement.
Fastest way into your doghouse: I don’t like being kept in the dark, and I don’t like surprises.
Goals over the next year: We are currently launching our new growth brand, Hawaiian Bros Island Grill. We are thrilled to break ground on the first few and get them operational.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? We measure our growth in people. If we have enough great managers (or hopefully more) to run our locations, we are on the right track. We always want to be advancing our people and creating more opportunities for them. If there is a bottleneck of talent, maybe it’s time for us to look at a new territory or a new brand.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in five years? 10 years? My biggest goal for our company is to update our mom-and-pop processes to make things easier for our support teams. In five years, I’d like for us to feel confident in our systems and tech stack for our support departments. Our 10-year goal is to be an industry-leading MUMBO, recognized for our operations and support departments.
Do you have brands in different segments? Why/why not? Our brands are all in restaurants because that’s what we know. Within the restaurant category, we’ve diversified across five concepts, which we believe will buoy us as we grow into the future.
How is the economy in your region(s) affecting you, your employees, your customers? Every day, it gets more expensive to build, staff, and train for a new restaurant. We have to be considerate of this and nimble in our growth strategy. It’s not our job to make the rules; we just have to be the best at navigating them.
Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? Some brands are down; others are up. The water is too murky to tell if there is a general market lift, but there’s movement between brands.
How do changes in the economy affect the way you do business? What stays the same is our process and prioritizing people development. What changes could be the speed of growth, the ability to access financing, or how we are scouting future locations.
How do you forecast for your business? The biggest thing we look at is year-over-year trends. We want to have more transactions and more sales than the year before. We start there and then look at any future locations we may add in the coming year. It’s not super robust, and that’s one thing we plan to improve moving forward.
What are the best sources for capital expansion? Debt. We have good relationships with our lenders. We don’t pursue sale-leasebacks, but I know they can be a powerful growth tool as well.
Experience with private equity, local banks, national banks, other institutions? Why/why not? We have great, long-standing relationships with local banks that handle our financing needs. Private equity has its place, but we’ve worked so closely with our operations team for many years and want to create roles for them. Selling pieces out to private equity could mean losing control of our group and our ability to create more opportunities for our teams.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? We prioritize staying competitive with our compensation, health benefits, and 401(k) plans. We also offer mental health services and counseling. Additionally, we rolled out the JCK Cares initiative, which provides a pool of funds for team members facing unexpected expenses or emergencies, like bridge rent payments or surprise medical bills.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, minimum wage, healthcare, etc.)? With any economic change, we have to take a top-down look at our business model. For some brands, it can be price changes or updating the value proposition to the guest with new menu items and offerings. For other brands, it might become less feasible to build new locations. We rely on our franchisor partners to work with us to create a viable business plan, so we can continue to take care of our employees. It doesn’t make sense to invest in a new restaurant that needs to be staffed below the optimal level to be profitable.
What laws and regulations are affecting your business, and how are you dealing with them? Right now, the big, ugly thing on everyone’s mind is the impact of tariffs. Nobody’s certain what the full impact will be, so we just have to do what we can to stay nimble. We won’t bite off more than we can chew.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? I’ve realized that not every employee wants to be recognized in the same way. I try to recognize top performers in a way that’s meaningful for them. Whether that’s well-structured compensation, quiet praise, public recognition, title advancements, or celebrations, the key is to celebrate each employee in a way that resonates with them.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? Honestly, there isn’t one. I feel so fortunate to be where I am, and I’m at the beginning of my career. We want to make this thing as great as it can be.