Just one month after opening as the second Hardee’s location in Baton Rouge, the restaurant at 3120 South Sherwood Forest Blvd. has been sold to a Belle Chasse-based company for $1,416,000.
For Hero Lands Company—whose holdings are concentrated in the greater New Orleans area—it marks a foray into the Baton Rouge market, says secretary and treasurer Allen Hero.
“We have a lot of out-of-state stockholders … and there was some thought that perhaps we need to have some investments outside of the greater New Orleans area, and so we started looking at the Baton Rouge area,” he says. “So, it’s something new for us, so we’re kind of anxious and excited—and hopefully it will prove to be a wise decision.”
The 2,510-square-foot restaurant was renovated prior to the Hardee’s opening, and the franchisee has a long-term lease in place, Hero says. Prior to the Hardee’s—which is dually-branded with the company’s Red Burrito concept, offering a Mexican menu—the space was home to Best Boilers restaurant, which closed last year. Hero says having a franchisee restaurant in the Hero Lands Company portfolio of holdings is also a first.
“We’re putting some faith in the Hardee’s franchise,” he says. “We think the location is is good, and could prove to be a good location going forward. There is a long-term lease in place and we hope that section of town continues to do well.”
The seller in the deal was Forest Justice BTC LLC, according to sales documents. The Sherwood Forest location marked Louisiana’s ninth dual-branded Hardee’s/Red Burrito location. The franchisee, Paradigm Investment Group—one of the largest Hardee’ s franchisees in the country, with over 100 stores across five states—previously told 225 magazine the plan is to open an additional 20 locations in the Southeast by 2020.
—Steve Sanoski
