The Great Franchisee: William Bingham, Checkers & Rally’s, Palm Coast, FL.

Bingham Realty, Inc. specializes in real estate development and has built dozens of franchise locations for various. Now, William Bingham, one of the company’s managing members, is making his first foray into franchise ownership as one of the newest franchisees with Checkers* & Rally’s, the nearly 900-unit drive-thru burger brand.

The group has one location up and running in Zephyrhills, a second location set to open later this month in Palm Coast, and a third underway in Palatka. 

1851 Franchise: Tell us your story – what did you do before franchising?

Will Bingham: Along with the rest of the members of Bingham Realty, Inc., which is a group of family members and investors, we’ve been real estate developers for many years. We helped develop various Walmart, Dunkin’ Donuts, Dollar Tree, Subway, Home Depot, Winn-Dixie, Aldi and Domino’s locations to name a few. Through this process, we’ve worked with a lot of franchise owners to get their locations up and running. 

1851: How did you initially find out about franchising and what was your perception of franchising before becoming a franchise owner?

Bingham: Franchising always interested us because we built many locations for others. It has always been intriguing how the Operations side works. 

1851: How did you decide you wanted to be a franchisee?

Bingham: We finally decided we wanted to tackle the ownership and development sides of a franchise location ourselves. 

1851: How did you perform your research?

Bingham: We had a site that we were pitching to various franchises to occupy. At that time, Checkers & Rally’s had a small footprint, and I approached their real estate manager at a convention. He said he loved the site but didn’t have a franchisee to occupy it. That’s when I asked, ‘What does it take to be a franchisee?’ and here we are.

I had been familiar with the brand for many years and really liked the product, but the opportunity just presented itself to become a franchisee at the perfect moment. 

1851: Why did you pick Checkers & Rally’s? What excited you most about the potential?

Bingham: The corporate team operates a franchisee-first culture that really stood out to me. In addition, I truly believe Checkers has the best food and stands out from its competitors. We have quality products with bold flavors that just cannot be matched. 

1851: What are your dreams with the business? What does the future look like?

Bingham: We’d like to continue to grow to a minimum of 10 locations throughout central-north Florida. 

1851: What advice would you have for others looking at buying a franchise?

Bingham: Get to know the business on a restaurant level first. We did it the opposite way by building the location first and then had to figure out how to operate. 

1851: What do you do in your personal time?

Bingham: In my free time, I enjoy boating and flying remote control airplanes. 

ABOUT CHECKERS & RALLY’S RESTAURANTS, INC.

Based in Tampa, Fla., Checkers & Rally's Restaurants, Inc., an iconic and innovative drive-thru restaurant chain known for serving up wins to hardworking people with its craveable fun food, exceptional affordability, and commitment to the communities it serves. With more than 840 restaurants and room to grow, Checkers & Rally's is a proven brand with flexible building formats that is aggressively expanding across the country. Checkers & Rally's is dedicated to being a place where franchisees and employees who work hard can create opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. In recent years, the brand has earned several of the industry's most prestigious awards including: "#1 Most Craveable Fries'' by Restaurant Business in 2021; “Best Franchise Deal” and "Best Drive-Thru in America'' by QSR Magazine; “Top Food and Beverage Franchise” by Franchise Business Review; the "Hot! Again" award from Nation's Restaurant News, and the company has consistently been ranked on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500. For more information about Checkers & Rally’s, please visit www.checkers.com and for franchise opportunities, please go to www.checkersfranchising.com.