Carl's Jr. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection against one of its largest franchise operators, Friendly Franchisees Corporation, which operates 65 restaurants across California. The company filed for bankruptcy under various subsidiaries, including Senior Classic Leasing, DFG Restaurants, and Second Star Holdings. This comes as Burger King's parent company, Restaurant Brands International, purchased Carrols Restaurant Group from Carrol's for $500M to accelerate the reimaging of more than 600 Carrol’s restaurants and refranchising the acquired portfolio to new or existing smaller franchise operators over the next seven years. Despite this, Carl's Jr.'s statement stated that this situation was an isolated franchisee's issue, not a broader problem.