CARROLS RESTAURANT GROUP, INC. - Annual Report: 2012 (Form 10-K)

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF

THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended January 1, 2012

OR

¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF

THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Commission File Number: 001-33174

CARROLS RESTAURANT GROUP, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (315) 424-0513

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ¨    No  x

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act.    Yes  ¨    No  x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, (Check one):

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act)    Yes  ¨    No  x

As of March 5, 2012, Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. had 23,159,538 shares of its common stock, $.01 par value, outstanding. The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates as of July 3, 2011 of Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. was $54,386,676.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

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CARROLS RESTAURANT GROUP, INC.

FORM 10-K

YEAR ENDED JANUARY 1, 2012

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PART I

Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we refer to Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. as “Carrols Restaurant Group” and, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, as “we”, “our” and “us” unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires. Any reference to “Carrols” refers to our wholly-owned subsidiary, Carrols Corporation, a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires. Any reference to “Carrols LLC” refers to Carrols’ direct subsidiary, Carrols LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires. Any reference to “Fiesta Restaurant Group” or “Fiesta” refers to Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires.

We use a 52 or 53 week fiscal year ending on the Sunday closest to December 31. For convenience, all references herein to the fiscal years ended December 30, 2007, December 28, 2008, January 3, 2010, January 2, 2011 and January 1, 2012 will hereinafter be referred to as the fiscal years ended December 31, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. Our fiscal year ended December 31, 2009 contained 53 weeks. Our fiscal years ended December 31, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 each contained 52 weeks.

We use the terms “Adjusted Segment EBITDA” and “Adjusted Segment EBITDA margin” in our 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K because they are financial indicators that are reported to the chief operating decision maker for purposes of allocating resources to our segments and assessing their performance. Adjusted Segment EBITDA (earnings attributable to the applicable segment before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, impairment and other lease charges, stock-based compensation expense, other income and expense and gains and losses on extinguishment of debt) may not be necessarily comparable to other similarly titled captions of other companies due to differences in methods of calculation. The calculation of Adjusted Segment EBITDA for our Burger King restaurants includes general and administrative expenses related directly to our Burger King segment, as well as the expenses associated with administrative support for all three of our segments including executive management, information systems and certain accounting, legal and other administrative functions. Adjusted Segment EBITDA margin means Adjusted Segment EBITDA as a percentage of the total revenues of the applicable segment. We consider our Pollo Tropical restaurant business, Taco Cabana restaurant business and Burger King restaurant business to each constitute a separate segment at the brand level. See Note 12 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we refer to information, forecasts and statistics regarding the restaurant industry. Unless otherwise indicated, all restaurant industry data in this Annual Report on Form 10-K refers to the U.S. restaurant industry and is taken from or based upon the Technomic Inc. (“Technomic”) report entitled “2011 Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.” In this Annual Report on Form 10-K we also refer to information, forecasts and statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Any reference to BKC in this Annual Report on Form 10-K refers to Burger King Holdings, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Burger King Corporation. Unless otherwise indicated, information regarding BKC in this Annual Report on Form 10-K has been made publicly available by BKC. The information, forecasts and statistics we have used from Technomic may reflect rounding adjustments.

Forward-Looking Statements

This 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K contains statements which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Statements that are predictive in nature or that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions are forward-looking statements. These statements are often identified by the words “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “hope”, “plan” or similar expressions. In addition, expressions of our strategies, intentions or plans are also forward looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown. You are

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cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their date. There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond our control. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied in the forward-looking statements. We have identified significant factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied in the forward-looking statements. For more information, please see Item 1A—Risk Factors. We believe important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include the following, in addition to other risks and uncertainties discussed herein:

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Overview

Our Company

We are one of the largest restaurant companies in the United States based on revenues, operating three restaurant brands in the quick-casual and quick-service restaurant segments with 547 restaurants operating in 17 states as of January 1, 2012. Through our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Fiesta Restaurant Group., we own and operate two restaurant brands, Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana, which we acquired in 1998 and 2000, respectively. We are also the largest Burger King franchisee as of January 1, 2012, based on the number of restaurants, and have operated Burger King restaurants since 1976. As of January 1, 2012, our company-owned restaurants included 91 Pollo Tropical restaurants and 158 Taco Cabana restaurants, and we owned and operated 298 Burger King restaurants under franchise agreements.

We are franchising our Pollo Tropical restaurants primarily internationally and, as of January 1, 2012 we had 31 franchised restaurants located in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Honduras, Trinidad, Venezuela, the Bahamas and on college campuses in Florida. We also have agreements for the future development of franchised Pollo Tropical restaurants in Panama, Tobago, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire and Costa Rica. Although we are not actively franchising our Taco Cabana restaurants, we had five Taco Cabana franchised restaurants located in the United States as of January 1, 2012. For the year ended December 31, 2011, we had total revenues of $822.5 million.

On December 20, 2006, we and certain selling stockholders completed an initial public offering (the “IPO”) of our common stock. In connection with the IPO, our common stock was approved for listing on The NASDAQ Global Market and began trading on December 15, 2006 under the symbol “TAST”.

Spin Off of Fiesta Restaurant Group

In 2011, we announced our intention to split our business into two separate, publicly-traded companies through the tax-free spin-off of the common stock of Fiesta Restaurant Group to our stockholders in the form of a pro rata dividend, which we refer to as the “spin-off”. Upon the consummation of the spin-off, Fiesta Restaurant Group would continue to own and operate our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana businesses and we would continue to own and operate our franchised Burger King restaurants through our subsidiaries Carrols and Carrols LLC.

The completion of the spin-off remains conditioned on, among other things, final approval of our Board of Directors, receipt of a favorable private letter tax ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), which has been received, the effectiveness of Fiesta Restaurant Group’s Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the SEC with respect to the registration of its common stock under the Exchange Act and final listing approval of the Fiesta Restaurant Group common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market. Although we expect to complete the spin-off in April 2012, there can be no assurance that we will complete the spin-off by then or at all.

Burger King. Burger King is one of the largest hamburger restaurant chains in the world (as measured by the number of restaurants and system-wide sales) and we are the largest franchisee in the Burger King system, based on number of restaurants. Burger King restaurants are part of the quick-service restaurant segment which is the largest of the five major segments of the U.S. restaurant industry based on 2010 sales. Burger King restaurants feature the popular flame-broiled Whopper^® sandwich, as well as a variety of hamburgers and other sandwiches, fries, salads, breakfast items and other offerings. According to BKC, historically it has spent between 4% and 5% of its annual system sales on marketing, advertising and promotion to sustain and increase its high brand awareness. We benefit from BKC’s marketing and operating initiatives as well as its development and recent introduction of new menu items and enhancements to food preparation processes. As of January 1, 2012, we operated 298 Burger King restaurants located in 12 Northeastern, Midwestern and Southeastern states. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the average sales transaction at our Burger King restaurants was $5.80. For the year ended December 31, 2011, our Burger King restaurants generated total revenues of $347.5 million and average annual sales per restaurant of $1,154,000.

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Fiesta Restaurant Group. We own and operate two quick-casual restaurant brands, Pollo Tropical^® and Taco Cabana^®, combining the convenience and value of quick-service restaurants with the menu variety, use of fresh ingredients and food quality more typical of casual dining restaurants. For the year ended December 31, 2011, our company-owned Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants generated average annual sales per restaurant of $2,287,000 and $1,690,000, respectively, which we believe are among the highest in the quick-casual and quick-service segments, based on industry data from Technomic. For the year ended December 31, 2011, total revenues for our Fiesta Restaurant Group restaurants were $475.0 million, which represented 57.7% of our total consolidated revenues.

Pollo Tropical: Our Pollo Tropical restaurants offer tropical and Caribbean inspired menu items, featuring grilled chicken marinated in our proprietary blend of tropical fruit juices and spices. Our diverse menu also includes a line of “TropiChops^®” (a casserole bowl of grilled chicken, pork or vegetables served on top of white rice and beans topped with freshly made salsa), a variety of chicken sandwiches, wraps, salads, roast pork, grilled ribs and wings, offered with an array of freshly made salsas, sauces and Caribbean style “made from scratch” side dishes, including black beans and rice, Yucatan fries and sweet plantains, as well as more traditional menu items such as french fries, corn and tossed and Caesar salads. We also offer uniquely Hispanic desserts, such as flan and tres leches. Most menu items are made fresh daily in each of our Pollo Tropical restaurants, which feature open display cooking on large, open flame grills that enable our customers to observe the fresh preparation of our food. Our Pollo Tropical restaurants feature our signature dining areas, designated to create an airy, inviting and tropical atmosphere. Additionally our Pollo Tropical restaurants provide our guests the option of take-out, as well as the convenience of drive-thru windows.

Pollo Tropical opened its first restaurant in 1988 in Miami, Florida. As of January 1, 2012, we owned and operated a total of 91 Pollo Tropical restaurants, of which 85 were located in Florida, one was located in Georgia and five were located in New Jersey. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the average sales transaction at our company-owned Pollo Tropical restaurants was $9.56 reflecting, in part, strong dinner and late night traffic, with dinner and late night sales representing the largest sales day-part at 53.3% for the year ended December 31, 2011. For the year ended December 31, 2011, our Pollo Tropical brand generated total revenues of $209.5 million.

Taco Cabana: Our Taco Cabana restaurants serve fresh Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican food, including flame grilled beef and chicken fajitas served on sizzling iron skillets, quesadillas, hand rolled flautas, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, fresh-made flour tortillas, a selection of “made from scratch” salsas and sauces, customizable salads served in a Cabana bowl, traditional Mexican and American breakfasts and other Tex-Mex dishes. Our Taco Cabana restaurants also offer a variety of beverage choices, including frozen margaritas and beer. Most of the menu items offered at Taco Cabana are prepared at each restaurant from fresh beef, chicken and produce delivered by suppliers. Our Taco Cabana restaurants feature interior, semi-enclosed and patio dining areas, which provide a vibrant decor and relaxing atmosphere. Additionally, our Taco Cabana restaurants provide our guests the option of take-out, as well as the convenience of drive-thru windows.

Taco Cabana opened its first restaurant in San Antonio, Texas in 1978. As of January 1, 2012, we owned and operated 158 Taco Cabana restaurants located in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, of which 152 were located in Texas. A majority of our Taco Cabana restaurants are open 24 hours a day, generating balanced customer traffic and restaurant sales across multiple day-parts, with dinner sales representing the largest day-part at 26.0% for the year ended December 31, 2011. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the average sales transaction at our company-owned Taco Cabana restaurants was $8.14. For the year ended December 31, 2011, our Taco Cabana brand generated total revenues of $265.4 million.

Corporate Information. Carrols Restaurant Group is a Delaware corporation, incorporated in 1986. Carrols Restaurant Group conducts all of its operations through its direct and indirect subsidiaries and has no assets other than the shares of Carrols, its direct wholly-owned subsidiary. Prior to November 21, 2006 we were known as Carrols Holdings Corporation. On November 21, 2006, we amended our certificate of incorporation to change our name to Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc.

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Industry

The Restaurant Market

According to Technomic, in 2010 total restaurant industry revenues in the United States were approximately $361.1 billion. Sales in the overall U.S. restaurant industry as reported by Technomic have increased from $257.8 billion in 2000 to $361.1 billion in 2010, which reflects a compound annual growth rate of 3.4% from 2000 through 2010. The rate of growth of sales in the overall U.S. restaurant industry from 2000 through 2010 may not be indicative of future growth and there can be no assurance that sales in the overall U.S. restaurant industry will grow at a similar rate in the future or at all. In 2010, 48% of food dollars were spent on food away from home and demand continues to outpace at-home dining, with food away from home projected to surpass at-home dining in 2015 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Quick-Service Restaurants

Our Burger King restaurants are part of the quick-service restaurant segment that Technomic indicates is the largest of the five major segments of the U.S. restaurant chain industry. Technomic identifies eleven major types of restaurants comprising the quick-service segment: Hamburger, Pizza, Other Sandwich, Chicken, Beverage, Mexican, Donut, Frozen Desserts, Bakery Café, Family Steak, Asian, and Cafeteria/Buffet. According to Technomic, the quick-service restaurant industry in 2010 was divided by menu category as follows (percentages are based on total industry sales for the quick-service segment):

According to Technomic, sales at all quick-service restaurants in the United States in 2010 were $194.8 billion, and were 53.9% of total U.S. restaurant industry sales, an increase from 53.1% in 2009. Sales for this segment in 2011 were projected by Technomic to increase 4% over 2010 as compared to a projected 3.5% increase for total U. S. restaurant industry sales. The rate of growth of sales in the quick-service restaurant segment from 2009 to 2010 may not be indicative of future growth and there can be no assurance that sales in the quick-service restaurant segment will grow at a similar rate in the future or at all.

Quick-service restaurants are distinguished by the following characteristics:

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Our Burger King restaurants operate in the hamburger segment of the quick-service restaurant segment. Sales in the hamburger segment of the quick-service restaurant segment in the United States increased 1.6% in 2010 and were $65.4 billion. The hamburger segment is the largest segment of the quick-service restaurant segment in the United States, according to Technomic.

Quick-Casual Restaurants

Fiesta Restaurant Group operates in the quick-casual restaurant segment in which the convenience of quick-service restaurants is combined with the menu variety, use of fresh ingredients and food quality more typical of casual dining. We believe that the quick-casual restaurant segment is one of the fastest growing segments of the restaurant industry. According to Technomic, 2010 sales growth compared to 2009 for quick-casual chains in the Technomic Top 500 restaurant chains was 5.7% as compared to 1.8% for the overall Top 500 restaurant chains.

Quick-casual restaurants are primarily distinguished by the following characteristics:

We believe that our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana brands are positioned to benefit from growing consumer demand for quick-casual restaurants because of food quality, value, differentiation of flavors and the increasing acceptance of ethnic foods. In addition, we believe our recent initiatives to enhance our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants in certain existing markets to provide customers an elevated quick-casual experience will better position our brands for successful and sustainable growth in new markets. We also believe that our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana brands will benefit from two significant demographic factors: the expected long-term population growth rates in regions in which our restaurants are currently located and the expected rate of growth of the Hispanic population in the United States, both as projected by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010.

We believe that the quick-service and quick-casual restaurant segments meet consumers’ desire for a convenient, reasonably priced restaurant experience. In addition, we believe that the consumers’ need for meals prepared outside of the home, including takeout, has increased significantly over historical levels as a result of the number of dual income households and single parent families.

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Our Competitive Strengths

We believe we have the following competitive strengths pertaining to our Burger King restaurants:

Largest Burger King Franchisee. We are Burger King’s largest franchisee, based on number of restaurants, and are well positioned to leverage the scale and marketing of one of the most recognized brands in the restaurant industry. The size of our Burger King business and our ability to leverage our management team and management information and operating systems has contributed significantly to the performance of our restaurants. We believe our Burger King restaurants have the potential for higher sales and improved profitability as a result of BKC’s new marketing initiatives and introduction of new and enhanced menu items in its efforts to reach out to a broader consumer base. Due to the number of restaurants and franchisees comprising the Burger King franchise system and our historical success in acquiring and integrating franchised Burger King restaurants, we also believe that there is opportunity for future growth through acquisitions.

We believe that the primary competitive advantages of our Burger King restaurants are:

Infrastructure in Place for Growth. We believe that our operating disciplines, seasoned management team, including real estate professionals responsible for site selection, and marketing and product development capabilities, supported by our corporate and restaurant management information systems and comprehensive training and development programs, will support significant expansion. We expect to leverage our significant investment in corporate infrastructure as we grow our business.

Experienced Management Team. We believe that our senior management team’s extensive experience in the restaurant industry and its long and successful history of developing, acquiring, integrating and operating quick-service and quick-casual restaurants provides us with a competitive advantage. Our Burger King operations are overseen by our Chief Executive Officer who has nearly 40 years of Burger King and quick-service restaurant experience and five Regional Directors that have an average of 28 years of Burger King restaurant experience. Forty district managers that support the Regional Directors have an average of over 22 years of restaurant management experience in the Burger King system.

We believe we have the following additional competitive strengths specific to Fiesta Restaurant Group’s Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants:

Differentiated Menu Offerings with Broad Appeal. Both of our company owned brands offer differentiated menu items that we believe have broad consumer appeal, attract a more diverse customer base and increase customer frequency. Pollo Tropical’s menu offers dishes inspired from multiple regions throughout the Caribbean, including our featured grilled chicken marinated in our proprietary blend of tropical fruit juices and spices. Taco Cabana’s menu offers favorites such as sizzling fajitas served hot on the skillet and other authentic Mexican dishes. We frequently enhance our menu with seasonal offerings and new menu items to provide variety to our guests and to address changes in consumer preferences such as sandwiches at our Pollo Tropical restaurants and brisket tacos and shrimp tampico at our Taco Cabana restaurants. Additionally, our menu includes a number of options to address consumers’ increasing focus on healthy eating.

Leading Quick-Casual Brands with Attractive Value Proposition. We believe that our brands are positioned to benefit from growing consumer demand for quick-casual restaurants because of food quality, value,

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differentiation of flavors and the increasing acceptance of ethnic foods. In addition, we believe our recent initiatives to enhance our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants in certain existing and new markets provide our customers an elevated quick-casual experience while better positioning our brands for successful and sustainable future growth. We believe our fresh, quality food at affordable price points provides customers a compelling value proposition, enabling us to benefit from consumers’ desire for a more value oriented quick-casual alternative. We believe that the inviting atmosphere, “made from scratch” menu items and open display cooking format of our restaurants offer customers a quality food and dining experience comparable to casual dining, but with the convenience and affordability similar to that of quick-service restaurants.

Strong Restaurant Level Economics and Operating Metrics. Our comparable restaurant sales increased 9.9% and 3.7% at our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2011. Based on industry data from Technomic, we believe that the average annual sales at our company-owned restaurants for the year ended December 31, 2011 of approximately $2,287,000 and $1,690,000 for Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana, respectively, are among the highest in the quick-casual segment. We believe that the average annual sales at our company-owned restaurants and our strong operating margins generate unit economics and returns on invested capital which will enable us to support new unit growth.

Well Positioned to Capitalize on Long-Term Population Growth in Markets Served by Our Fiesta Restaurant Brands. We expect sales from our restaurants in Florida and Texas to benefit from the projected long-term overall population growth in these markets. The U.S. Census Bureau forecasts these markets to grow at a faster rate than the national average. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population is forecasted to grow by 8.7% from 2010 to 2020 and the population in Florida and Texas is forecasted to grow by 21.6% and 16.2%, respectively, during that same time period. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to benefit from any long-term population growth in Florida and Texas.

Well Positioned to Continue to Benefit From the Growth of the Hispanic Population in the United States. We expect sales from our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants to benefit from the growth of the U.S. Hispanic population, which is projected by the U.S. Census Bureau to grow at a faster rate than the national average. The U.S. Census Bureau forecasts that the growth of the Hispanic population is expected to outpace overall population growth and the Hispanic population, as a percentage of the total U.S. population, is expected to increase from 16.3% of the total U.S. population in 2010 to 23.7% by 2030. We believe that the continued growth of the Hispanic population has contributed to the increased popularity and acceptance of Hispanic food in the United States by non-Hispanic consumers. However, there can be no assurance that we will be able to benefit from any growth of the Hispanic population in the United States.

Our Large Number of Company-Owned Restaurants Enable us to Effectively Manage Our Brands. Our restaurants in the United States are substantially company-owned and we therefore exercise control over the day-to-day operations of our restaurants unlike many of our competitors that are largely comprised of independent franchisees. Consequently, our success does not depend on our control of our franchisees, or their support of our marketing programs, new product offerings, strategic initiatives or new restaurant development strategies. In addition, because our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants are primarily company-owned, we believe we are better able to provide customers with a more consistent experience relative to competing brands that utilize franchisee-operated restaurants.

Experienced Management Team. We believe that our senior management team’s extensive experience in the restaurant industry and its history of developing and operating quick-service and quick-casual restaurants provides us with a competitive advantage. Furthermore, our executive management team is supported by deep brand-level operating teams with extensive experience. Fiesta Restaurant Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Taft, has been with us since August 2011 and has over 30 years of experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our Executive Vice Presidents of Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana have been with us for over 30 years and in their current positions since 2003 and 2002, respectively. We believe that the breadth of industry experience of our management team and their longstanding experience with our restaurant brands provide us with

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a competitive advantage. We believe that our operating disciplines, seasoned management team, including real estate professionals responsible for site selection, and marketing and product development capabilities, supported by our management information systems and comprehensive training and development programs, will support our expansion.

Business Strategy

Our primary business strategies are as follows:

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Pollo Tropical has developed an elevated format which we believe will permit it to be accepted as a general market concept and broaden its target audience. This format includes a more upscale décor, an elevated service platform where food is ordered and then brought to the guest at the table, new menu offerings including sangria and wine, and numerous other enhancements. Pollo Tropical has recently opened two restaurants in Jacksonville, Florida, and one restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia utilizing this format and we believe it will serve as the model for Pollo Tropical’s expansion outside its core Florida markets. Similarly, we believe we have an opportunity to develop an elevated format for our Taco Cabana restaurants that will enable us to expand the concept outside our core Texas markets within the next two years.

Overview of Restaurant Concepts

Burger King Restaurants

As of September 30, 2011 Burger King was the second largest hamburger restaurant chain in the world (as measured by the number of restaurants and system-wide sales). According to BKC, as of September 30, 2011, there were a total of 12,395 Burger King restaurants operating worldwide, of which 11,100 were franchised restaurants and 7,523 were located in the United States and Canada.

“Have It Your Way”^® service, flame broiling, generous portions and competitive prices characterize the Burger King system marketing strategy. Our Burger King restaurants feature flame-broiled hamburgers, the most popular of which is the WHOPPER^® sandwich which is a large, flame-broiled hamburger garnished with mayonnaise, lettuce, onions, pickles and tomatoes. The basic menu of all Burger King restaurants also includes specialty sandwiches including chicken and fish sandwiches, breakfast items, french fries, onion rings, salads, shakes, desserts, soft drinks and other beverages. In addition, promotional menu items are featured periodically

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for limited periods. BKC has recently modified its marketing initiatives to reach out to a broader consumer base. In addition, BKC is introducing many new and enhanced menu items to compliment its new marketing strategy as well as to broaden the menu in all day parts.

Our Burger King restaurants are typically open seven days per week and generally have operating hours ranging from 6:00 am to midnight on Sunday to Wednesday and 2:00 am on Thursday to Saturday. Burger King restaurants are quick-service restaurants of distinctive design and are generally located in high-traffic areas throughout the United States. Burger King restaurants are designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of consumers, with multiple day-part meal segments targeted to different groups of consumers.

We believe that the competitive attributes of Burger King restaurants are:

Our Burger King restaurants consist of one of several building types with various seating capacities. Our typical freestanding restaurant contains approximately 2,800 to 3,200 square feet with seating capacity for 90 to 100 customers, has drive-thru service windows and has adjacent parking areas. The building types for recently constructed or remodeled Burger King restaurants utilize 2,600 square feet and typically have seating capacity for 60 to 70 customers. As of January 1, 2012, almost all of our Burger King restaurants were freestanding. We operate our Burger King restaurants under franchise agreements with BKC. See “—Operations—Burger King Franchise Agreements” and “—Franchise Fees, Royalties and Early Successor Program”.

Pollo Tropical Restaurants

Our Pollo Tropical restaurants offers tropical and Caribbean inspired menu items, featuring grilled chicken marinated in our proprietary blend of tropical fruit juices and spices. Our diverse menu also includes a line of “TropiChops^®” (a casserole bowl of grilled chicken, pork or vegetables served on top of white rice and beans topped with freshly made salsa), a variety of chicken sandwiches, wraps, salads, roast pork, grilled ribs and wings, offered with an array of freshly made salsas, sauces and Caribbean style “made from scratch” side dishes, including black beans and rice, Yucatan fries and sweet plantains, as well as more traditional menu items such as french fries, corn and tossed and Caesar salads. We also offer uniquely Hispanic desserts, such as flan and tres leches. Most menu items are made fresh daily in each of our Pollo Tropical restaurants, which feature open display cooking on large, open flame grills that enable our customers to observe the fresh preparation of our food. Our Pollo Tropical restaurants feature our signature dining areas, designated to create an airy, inviting and tropical atmosphere. Additionally our Pollo Tropical restaurants provide our guests the option of take-out, as well as the convenience of drive-thru windows.

Pollo Tropical opened its first restaurant in 1988 in Miami, Florida. Carrols acquired the Pollo Tropical brand in 1998. As of January 1, 2012 we owned and operated a total of 91 Pollo Tropical restaurants, of which 85 were located in Florida, five were located in New Jersey and one was located in Georgia. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the average sales transaction at our company-owned Pollo Tropical restaurants was $9.56 reflecting, in part, strong dinner and late night traffic, with dinner and late night sales representing the largest day-part at 53.3%. We are franchising our Pollo Tropical restaurants primarily internationally, and as of January 1, 2012, we had 31 franchised Pollo Tropical restaurants located in Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Honduras, Trinidad, Venezuela, the Bahamas and on three college campuses in Florida. We also have agreements for the future development of franchised Pollo Tropical restaurants in Panama, Tobago, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire and Costa Rica. For the year ended December 31, 2011, our Pollo Tropical brand generated total revenues of $209.5 million.

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Our Pollo Tropical restaurants typically feature high ceilings, large windows, tropical plants, light colored woods, decorative tiles, a visually distinctive exterior entrance tower, lush landscaping and other signature architectural features, all designed to create an airy, inviting and tropical atmosphere. We design our restaurants to conveniently serve a high volume of customer traffic while retaining an inviting, casual atmosphere.

Our Pollo Tropical restaurants are generally open for lunch, dinner and late night orders seven days per week from 11:00 am to midnight and offer sit-down dining, counter take-out and drive-thru service. Our menu offers a variety of portion sizes to accommodate a single customer, family or large group. Pollo Tropical restaurants also offer catering, with special prices and portions to serve parties in excess of 25 people.

In 2010, Pollo Tropical completed the enhancement of 12 locations in the Florida west coast, Orlando and Northeast markets. The enhanced positioning provides customers an elevated quick-casual experience in order to better position the brand for successful and sustainable growth in the future. In addition to restaurant remodeling, enhancements included free table service, hand held menus, Wi-Fi, new menu items, serving wine and beer at certain locations and the addition of real plates and silverware. During the fourth quarter of 2010 and 2011, four locations opened with the elevated service model bringing the total enhanced locations to sixteen. We expect future openings outside of Southeast Florida to have these enhancements.

Our Pollo Tropical restaurants typically provide seating for 80 to 100 customers and have drive-thru windows. As of January 1, 2012, substantially all of our company-owned Pollo Tropical restaurants were freestanding buildings. Our typical freestanding Pollo Tropical restaurant ranges from 2,800 to 3,200 square feet.

Taco Cabana Restaurants

Our Taco Cabana restaurants serve fresh Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican food, including flame grilled beef and chicken fajitas served on sizzling iron skillets, quesadillas, hand rolled flautas, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, fresh-made flour tortillas, a selection of “made from scratch” salsas and sauces, customizable salads served in a Cabana bowl, traditional Mexican and American breakfasts and other Tex-Mex dishes. Our Taco Cabana restaurants also offer a variety of beverage choices, including frozen margaritas and beer. Most of the menu items offered at Taco Cabana are prepared at each restaurant from fresh beef, chicken and produce delivered by suppliers. Our Taco Cabana restaurants feature interior, semi-enclosed and patio dining areas, which provide a vibrant decor and relaxing atmosphere. Additionally, our Taco Cabana restaurants provide our guests the option of take-out, as well as the convenience of drive-thru windows.

Taco Cabana pioneered the Mexican patio café concept with its first restaurant in San Antonio, Texas in 1978. Carrols acquired the Taco Cabana brand in 2000. As of January 1, 2012, we owned and operated 158 Taco Cabana restaurants located in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, of which 152 were located in Texas. A majority of our Taco Cabana restaurants are open 24 hours a day, generating balanced customer traffic and restaurant sales across multiple day-parts with dinner sales representing the largest day-part at 26.0% for the year ended December 31, 2011. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the average sales transaction at our company-owned Taco Cabana restaurants was $8.14. Although we are not actively franchising our Taco Cabana restaurants, we had five franchised Taco Cabana restaurants as of January 1, 2012. For the year ended December 31, 2011 our Taco Cabana brand generated total revenues of $265.4 million.

Our typical freestanding Taco Cabana restaurants average approximately 3,200 square feet (exclusive of the exterior dining area) and provide seating for approximately 80 customers, with additional outside patio seating for approximately 50 customers. As of January 1, 2012, substantially all of our company-owned Taco Cabana restaurants were freestanding buildings. Taco Cabana restaurants are distinctive in appearance, conveying a Mexican theme and permitting easy identification by passing motorists. Our Taco Cabana

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restaurants feature rounded fronts, as well as Southwest accents such as a clay tile roof, heavy wood beams and a trellis that shades the patio area, and the use of bright colors. In 2010 we began initiatives to enhance the Taco Cabana concept in certain existing markets to provide customers an elevated quick-casual experience and better position the brand for successful and sustainable growth. In addition to restaurant remodeling, enhancements included free table service, hand held menus, Wi-Fi and new menu items. As of Janaury 1, 2012, we had upgraded a total of 45 Taco Cabana restaurants in Texas which included 34 locations in the Dallas market, eight in the Austin market, and one location each in College Station, Corpus Christi and Temple. During 2012, we plan to upgrade a total of 37 restaurants including the remaining restaurants in our Austin market, twelve restaurants in our San Antonio market and eight restaurants in our Houston market.

Taco Cabana’s interior restaurant design features open display cooking that enables customers to observe fajitas cooking on a grill, a machine making fresh flour tortillas and the preparation of other food items. Upon entry, the customer places an order selected from an overhead menu board, proceeds down a service line to where the order is picked up, and then passes a salsa bar en route to the dining area. The distinctive salsa bar offers Taco Cabana customers freshly-prepared Tex-Mex ingredients such as salsa de fuego (made with charred peppers and tomatoes), pico de gallo and salsa (all “made from scratch” throughout the day at each restaurant), as well as cilantro, pickled jalapeno slices, crisp chopped onions and fresh sliced limes. Depending on the season, time of day and personal preference, our customers can choose to dine in the restaurant’s brightly colored and festive interior dining area or in either the semi-enclosed or outdoor patio areas.

A majority of our Taco Cabana restaurants are open 24 hours a day, although hours of operation are continually evaluated on a market and individual restaurant basis.

Restaurant Economics

Selected restaurant operating data for our three restaurant concepts is as follows:

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Restaurant Capital Costs

The initial cost of equipment, seating, signage and other interior costs of a typical new free-standing Pollo Tropical restaurant currently is approximately $600,000 (excluding the cost of the land, building and site improvements). Generally, in our core Florida markets, the cost of land currently ranges from $900,000 to $1,100,000 and the cost of building and site improvements currently range from $950,000 to $1,250,000. In the Northeast or any other potential markets, we believe our new Pollo Tropical restaurants will have a cost for building and site improvements ranging from $1,050,000 to $1,350,000 (excluding the cost of land for those locations that we do not lease).

The initial cost of equipment, seating, signage and other interior costs of a typical new Taco Cabana restaurant currently is approximately $525,000 (excluding the cost of the land, building and site improvements). Generally, in our Texas markets, the cost of land currently ranges from $800,000 to $1,100,000 and the cost of building and site improvements currently ranges from $900,000 to $1,000,000.

The initial cost of the franchise fee, equipment, seating, signage and other interior costs of a standard new Burger King restaurant currently is approximately $350,000 (excluding the cost of the land, building and site improvements). In the markets in which we primarily operate, the cost of land generally ranges from $600,000 to $800,000 and the cost of building and site improvements generally ranges from $650,000 to $700,000.

With respect to development of freestanding restaurants, we generally seek to acquire the land to construct the building, and thereafter enter into an arrangement to sell and leaseback the land and building under a long-term lease. Historically, we have been able to acquire and finance many of our locations under such leasing arrangements. Where we are unable to purchase the underlying land, we enter into a long-term lease for the land and fund the construction of the building from cash generated from our operations or with borrowings under our senior credit facility rather than through long-term leasing arrangements.

The cost of developing and equipping new restaurants can vary significantly and depends on a number of factors, including the local economic conditions and the characteristics of a particular site. Accordingly, the cost of opening new restaurants in the future, including Pollo Tropical restaurants in new markets, may differ substantially from, and may be significantly higher than, both the historical cost of restaurants previously opened and the estimated costs above.

Seasonality

Our business is moderately seasonal due to regional weather conditions. Sales from our Pollo Tropical restaurants (primarily located in south and central Florida) are generally higher during the winter months than during the summer months. Sales from our Taco Cabana restaurants (located in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico) and our Burger King restaurants (primarily located in the northern United States) are generally higher during the summer months than during the winter months. Accordingly, we believe this seasonal impact is not material to our business as a whole because of the offsetting seasonality of our multiple concepts.

Restaurant Locations

As of January 1, 2012, we owned and operated 91 Pollo Tropical restaurants, of which 85 were located in Florida, five were located in New Jersey and one was located in Georgia. In addition we franchised 31 Pollo

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Tropical restaurants as of January 1, 2012, comprised of 21 in Puerto Rico, two in Ecuador, two in Venezuela, one in Honduras, one in the Bahamas, one in Trinidad and three on college campuses in Florida.

As of January 1, 2012, we owned and operated 158 Taco Cabana restaurants and franchised five Taco Cabana restaurants located in the following states:

The following table details the locations of our 298 Burger King restaurants as of January 1, 2012:

Operations

Management Structure

We conduct substantially all of our executive management, finance, marketing and operations support functions from our corporate headquarters in Syracuse, New York, our Pollo Tropical division headquarters in Miami, Florida or our Taco Cabana division headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Carrols Restaurant Group is led by our Chief Executive Officer and President, Daniel T. Accordino who succeeded Alan Vituli upon Mr. Vituli’s retirement as our Chief Executive Officer on December 31, 2011. Mr. Accordino has nearly 40 years of Burger King and quick-service restaurant experience at our company. Fiesta Restaurant Group is led by Tim Taft, its Chief Executive Officer and President, who was hired in August 2011. Mr. Taft has over 30 years of restaurant and hospitality industry experience.

Our Burger King operations are overseen by five Regional Directors, three of whom are Vice Presidents, that have an average of over 28 years of Burger King restaurant experience. Forty district managers that have an average of over 22 years of restaurant management experience in the Burger King system support the Regional Directors.

The management structure for Pollo Tropical consists of an Executive Vice President, who has over 40 years of experience in the restaurant industry, and two Regional Directors supported by eleven district managers. The management structure of Taco Cabana consists of an Executive Vice President, who has over 38 years of restaurant industry experience, and two Regional Vice Presidents, a Regional Director and 23 district managers.

For each of our concepts, a district manager is responsible for the direct oversight of the day-to-day operations of an average of approximately seven restaurants. Typically, district managers have previously served

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as restaurant managers at one of our restaurants. Regional directors, district managers and restaurant managers are compensated with a fixed salary plus an incentive bonus based upon the performance of the restaurants under their supervision. Typically, our restaurants are staffed with hourly employees who are typically supervised by a salaried manager and two or three salaried assistant managers.

Training

We maintain a comprehensive training and development program for all of our personnel and provide both classroom and in-restaurant training for our salaried and hourly personnel. The program emphasizes system-wide operating procedures, food preparation methods and customer service standards for each of the concepts. In addition, BKC’s training and development programs are also available to us as a franchisee.

Management Information Systems

Our sophisticated management information systems provide us with the ability to efficiently and effectively manage our restaurants and to ensure consistent application of operating controls at our restaurants. Our size also affords us the ability to maintain an in-house staff of information technology and restaurant systems professionals dedicated to continuously enhancing our systems. In addition, these capabilities allow us to integrate newly developed or acquired restaurants and achieve greater economies of scale and operating effieciencies.

Our restaurants employ touch-screen point-of-sale (POS) systems that are designed to facilitate accuracy and speed of order taking. These systems are user-friendly, require limited cashier training and improve speed-of-service through the use of conversational order-taking techniques. The POS systems are integrated with PC-based applications at the restaurant that are designed to facilitate financial and management control of our restaurant operations. In 2008, we enhanced and upgraded our restaurant technology with the installation of new POS systems at our Taco Cabana restaurants and in 2009 we installed similar systems in our Pollo Tropical restaurants. We began installing new POS systems at our Burger King restaurants in 2011 and expect to have all restaurants installed with the new POS system in May of 2012.

Our restaurant systems provide daily tracking and reporting of traffic counts, menu item sales, labor and food data including costs, and other key operating information for each restaurant. We communicate electronically with our restaurants on a continuous basis, which enables us to collect this information for use in our corporate management systems in near real-time. Our corporate and divisional administrative headquarters house web-based systems that support all of our accounting, operating and reporting systems. We also operate a 24-hour, seven-day help desk at our corporate headquarters that enables us to provide systems and operational support to our restaurant operations as required. Among other things, our restaurant information systems provide us with the ability to:

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Critical information from our systems is available in near real-time to our restaurant managers, who are expected to react quickly to trends or situations in their restaurant. Our district managers also receive near real-time information from all restaurants under their control and have computer access to key operating data on a remote basis using our corporate intranet. Management personnel at all levels, from the restaurant manager through senior management, utilize key restaurant performance indicators to manage our business.

Site Selection

We believe that the location of our restaurants is a critical component of each restaurant’s success. We evaluate potential new sites on many critical criteria including accessibility, visibility, costs, surrounding traffic patterns, competition and demographic characteristics. Our senior management determines the acceptability of all acquisition prospects and new sites, based upon analyses prepared by our real estate, financial and operations professionals.

Burger King Franchise Agreements

Each of our Burger King restaurants operates under a separate franchise agreement with BKC. Our franchise agreements with BKC generally require, among other things, that all restaurants comply with specified design criteria and operate in a prescribed manner, including utilization of the standard Burger King menu. In addition, our Burger King franchise agreements generally require that our restaurants conform to BKC’s current image and provide for remodeling of our restaurants during the tenth year of the agreements to conform to such current image, which may require the expenditure of considerable funds. These franchise agreements with BKC generally provide for an initial term of 20 years and currently have an initial franchise fee of $50,000. In the event that we terminate any franchise agreement and close the related BKC restaurant prior to the expiration of its term, we may be required to pay BKC an amount based on the net present value of the royalty stream that would have been realized by BKC had such franchise agreement not been terminated. Any franchise agreement, including renewals, can be extended at our discretion for an additional 20-year term, with BKC’s approval, provided that, among other things, the restaurant meets the current Burger King operating and image standards and that we are not in default under the terms of the franchise agreement. The franchise agreement fee for subsequent renewals is currently $50,000. BKC may terminate any of the franchise agreements if an act of default is committed by us under these agreements and such default is not cured. Defaults under the franchise agreements include, among other things, our failure to operate such Burger King restaurant in accordance with the operating standards and specifications established by BKC (including failure to use equipment, uniforms or decor approved by BKC), our failure to sell products approved or designated by BKC, our failure to pay royalties or advertising and sales promotion contributions as required, our unauthorized sale, transfer or assignment of such franchise agreement or the related restaurant, certain events of bankruptcy or insolvency with respect to us, conduct by us or our employees that has a harmful effect on the Burger King restaurant system, conviction of us or our executive officers for certain indictable offenses, our failure to maintain a responsible credit rating or the acquisition by us of an interest in any other hamburger restaurant business. We are not in default under any of the franchise agreements with BKC.

In order to obtain a successor franchise agreement with BKC, a franchisee is typically required to make capital improvements to the restaurant to bring it up to Burger King’s current image standards. The cost of these improvements may vary widely depending upon the magnitude of the required changes and the degree to which we have made interim improvements to the restaurant. We have 19 franchise agreements due to expire in 2012, 12 franchise agreements due to expire in 2013 and 13 franchise agreements due to expire in 2014. In recent years, the historical costs of improving our Burger King restaurants in connection with franchise renewals generally have ranged from $200,000 to $550,000 per restaurant. The cost of capital improvements made in connection with future franchise agreement renewals may differ substantially from past franchise renewals depending on the current image requirements established from time to time by Burger King.

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We believe that we will be able to satisfy BKC’s normal franchise agreement renewal criteria. Accordingly, we believe that renewal franchise agreements will be granted on a timely basis by BKC at the expiration of our existing franchise agreements. Historically, BKC has granted all of our requests for successor franchise agreements. However, there can be no assurances that BKC will grant these requests in the future.

We evaluate the performance of our Burger King restaurants on an ongoing basis. Such evaluation depends on many factors, including our assessment of the anticipated future operating results of the subject restaurants and the cost of required capital improvements that we would need to commit for such restaurants. If we determine that a Burger King restaurant is under-performing, or that we do not anticipate an adequate return on the capital required to renew the franchise agreement, we may elect to close such restaurant. We may also relocate (offset) a restaurant within its trade area and build a new Burger King restaurant as part of the franchise renewal process. In 2011 we closed a total of nine Burger King restaurants, which included one location that was offset. In 2012, we currently anticipate that we will likely elect to close three Burger King restaurants. However, based on the current operating results of these restaurants, we believe that the impact on our results of operations as a result of such restaurant closures will not be material, although there can be no assurance in this regard. Our determination to close these restaurants in 2012 is subject to further evaluation and may change. We may also elect to close additional Burger King restaurants in the future.

In addition to the initial franchise fee, we generally pay BKC a monthly royalty. The royalty rate for both new restaurants and for successor franchise agreements is 4 ¹/2% of sales. The royalty rate was increased from 3 ¹/2% of sales in 2000, and generally for restaurants in existence in 2000, becomes effective upon the renewal of the franchise agreement. Burger King royalties, as a percentage of our Burger King restaurant sales, were 4.0% in both 2011 and 2010 and 3.9% in 2009. We anticipate our Burger King royalties, as a percentage of our Burger King restaurant sales, will increase to 4.1% in 2012 as a result of the terms outlined above.

We also generally contribute 4% of restaurant sales from our Burger King restaurants to fund BKC’s national and regional advertising. BKC engages in substantial national and regional advertising and promotional activities and other efforts to maintain and enhance the Burger King brand. From time to time we supplement BKC’s marketing with our own local advertising and promotional campaigns. See “—Advertising and Promotion” below.

Our franchise agreements with BKC do not give us exclusive rights to operate Burger King restaurants in any defined territory. Although we believe that BKC generally seeks to ensure that newly granted franchises do not materially adversely affect the operations of existing Burger King restaurants, we cannot assure you that franchises granted by BKC to third parties will not adversely affect any Burger King restaurants that we operate.

We are required to obtain BKC’s consent before we acquire existing Burger King restaurants from other franchisees or develop new Burger King restaurants. BKC also has the right of first refusal to purchase any Burger King restaurant that is being offered for sale by a franchisee. To date, BKC has approved almost all of our acquisitions of Burger King restaurants from other franchisees.

Fiesta Restaurant Group Franchise Operations

As of January 1, 2012, we had seven franchisees operating a total of 31 Pollo Tropical restaurants, 21 of which were located in Puerto Rico, two in Ecuador, one in Honduras, one in Trinidad, two in Venezuela, one in the Bahamas and three located on college campuses in Florida. As of January 1, 2012, we had three franchisees operating a total of five Taco Cabana restaurants.

We have also entered into development agreements for the development of up to five franchised restaurants in Panama, the development of up to four restaurants in Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire and the development of a minimum of five restaurants in Costs Rica. Each of these agreements provide for the development of additional restaurants in these markets, provided such franchisees maintain compliance under their respective development agreements. We believe that there are significant opportunities to expand Pollo Tropical restaurants outside of the

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United States and we are seeking to franchise or license the brand in additional foreign markets. Any such expansion would ideally take the form of a franchising or licensing arrangement with one or more experienced restaurant companies. Since restaurant development in foreign jurisdictions requires certain local knowledge and expertise that we do not necessarily possess, we utilize franchising to expand in international markets. This permits us to leverage the local knowledge and expertise of our franchisees and also provides a lower cost method of penetrating foreign markets. In addition to certain minimum financial requirements, the criterion for our franchisees includes individuals or entities that have multi unit hospitality industry experience and have demonstrated local commercial real estate development experience. We believe that there are a number of foreign markets with the requisite population, demographic and income characteristics to support this expansion, as well as consumers with a proclivity to eat foods similar to those offered by Pollo Tropical. We also believe that there are opportunities in the United States for licensing both the Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana brands to concessionaires operating in non-traditional venues such as college campuses, airports and sports arenas.

Our development agreements generally provide for franchisees to commit to developing a specified number of restaurants within a certain geographic area within a specified time frame. The development agreements generally require franchisees to pay upon signing a portion of the franchise fees for each restaurant to be developed, with the balance of the fees due upon opening of each restaurant. All of our current franchisees pay a royalty based on restaurant sales and are required to operate their restaurants under the terms of our franchise agreement which dictate compliance with certain methods, standards and specifications developed by us, including those related to menu items, recipes, food preparation, materials, supplies, services, fixtures, furnishings, decor and signs. The franchisees have discretion to determine the prices to be charged to customers. In addition, all franchisees are required to purchase substantially all food, ingredients, supplies and materials from suppliers approved by us.

Advertising and Promotion

We are generally required to contribute 4% of restaurant sales from our Burger King restaurants to an advertising fund utilized by BKC for its advertising, promotional programs and public relations activities. BKC’s advertising programs consist of national campaigns supplemented by local advertising. BKC’s advertising campaigns are generally carried on television, radio and in circulated print media (national and regional newspapers and magazines). As a percentage of our Burger King restaurant sales advertising expense was 4.2% in each of 2011, 2010 and 2009.

The efficiency and quality of advertising and promotional programs can significantly affect the quick-casual and quick-service restaurant businesses. We believe that one of the major advantages of being a Burger King franchisee is the value of the extensive national and regional advertising and promotional programs conducted by BKC. In addition to the benefits derived from BKC’s advertising spending, we sometimes supplement BKC’s advertising and promotional activities with our own local advertising and promotions, including the purchase of additional television, radio and print advertising. The concentration of our Burger King restaurants in many of our markets permits us to leverage advertising in those markets. We also utilize promotional programs, such as combination value meals and discounted prices, targeted to our customers, in order to create a flexible and directed marketing program.

In connection with BKC’s 2011 initiatives to support the installation of digital menu boards, the introduction of new menu items and enhancements to the quality of our food preparation, we have made expenditures of approximately $9.0 million in 2011 and expect to make an additional $0.5 million in related expenditures in 2012. For those franchisees who made or have committed to make these expenditures including those for digital menu boards, BKC, beginning in 2012, will reduce the required advertising contribution by $5,400 per restaurant per year through 2015, for those restaurants whose expenditures included a digital menu board, and $3,000 per restaurant per year through 2015, for those restaurants whose expenditures excluded a digital menu board. At December 31, 2011 we had 280 restaurants qualifying for the $5,400 per year advertising reduction and 13 restaurants qualifying for the $3,000 per year advertising reduction. In addition, to receive the advertising reductions prospectively the franchisee must be in full compliance with its franchise agreements including being current all on payments to BKC for royalties, advertising and occupancy related charges.

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We believe Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana are among the most highly recognized quick-casual restaurant brands in their respective markets of Florida and Texas. Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana utilize an integrated, multi-level marketing approach that includes periodic chain-wide promotions, direct mail, in-store promotions, local store marketing and other strategies, including the use of radio and television advertising in their markets. Combination value meals are also utilized as well as limited time offer menu item promotions. Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana advertise in both English and Spanish language media. As a percentage of Pollo Tropical restaurant sales, Pollo Tropical’s advertising expenditures were 2.8% in both 2011 and 2010 and 2.7% in 2009. As a percentage of Taco Cabana restaurant sales, Taco Cabana’s advertising expenditures were 4.0% in 2011, 4.1% in 2010 and 4.0%% in 2009.

Product Development

Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana each have separate product research and development functions, which we believe are comparable to other large multi-unit restaurant companies. These capabilities enable us to continually refine our menu offerings and develop new products for introduction in our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants. These functions include:

Pollo Tropical’s test kitchen is located in a separate leased facility near the brand headquarters in Miami. The facility includes cooking equipment that mirrors the capability of a Pollo Tropical restaurant and a tasting area. Permanent staff positions include a Vice President of R&D, a Senior Manager of R&D and two R&D managers.

Taco Cabana’s test kitchen is located near our San Antonio division headquarters in leased commercial space. The facility includes cooking equipment that mirrors the capability of a Taco Cabana restaurant and a tasting area. Permanent staff positions include a Corporate Chef and two staff assistants.

Suppliers and Distributors

For our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants, we have negotiated directly with local and national suppliers for the purchase of food and beverage products and supplies to ensure consistent quality and freshness and to obtain competitive prices. Food and supplies for both brands are ordered from approved suppliers and are shipped via distributors to the restaurants. Both brands are responsible for monitoring quality control and supervision of these suppliers and conduct inspections to observe the preparation and quality of products purchased.

For our Pollo Tropical restaurants, Performance Food Group, Inc. is our primary distributor of food and paper products under an agreement that expires on May 15, 2012. Also for our Pollo Tropical restaurants, Kelly Food Service is our primary distributor for chicken under an agreement that expires on December 31, 2012. We also currently rely on two suppliers under agreements that expire on December 31, 2012 as our suppliers of chicken for our Pollo Tropical restaurants. Although we believe that alternative sources of chicken are available to us, if both suppliers were unable to service us, this could lead to a material disruption of service or supply until a new supplier is engaged, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

For our Taco Cabana restaurants, SYGMA Network, Inc. (SYGMA) is our primary distributor of food and beverage products and supplies. SYGMA purchases, warehouses and distributes products for these restaurants under a distribution service agreement that expires June 30, 2014.

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We rely heavily on these suppliers but, in general, if any supplier was unable to service us, we believe that we have alternative sources available to us to avoid any material disruption in service. With respect to our distributors for our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants, although we believe that alternative distributors are available to us, if any distributor was unable to service us, this could lead to a material disruption of service or supply until a new distributor is engaged, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are a member of a national purchasing cooperative, Restaurant Services, Inc., created for the Burger King system. Restaurant Services, Inc. is a non-profit independent cooperative that acts as the purchasing agent for approved distributors to the Burger King system and serves to negotiate the lowest cost for the system. We use our purchasing power to negotiate directly with certain other vendors, to obtain favorable pricing and terms for supplying our Burger King restaurants. For our Burger King restaurants, we are required to purchase all of our foodstuffs, paper goods and packaging materials from BKC-approved suppliers. We currently utilize three distributors, Maines Paper & Food Service, Inc., Reinhart Food Service L.L.C. and MBM Food Service Inc., to supply our Burger King restaurants with the majority of their foodstuffs and, as of January 1, 2012, such distributors supplied 64%, 32% and 4%, respectively, of our Burger King restaurants. We may purchase non-food items such as kitchen utensils, equipment maintenance tools and other supplies from any suitable source so long as such items meet BKC product uniformity standards. All BKC-approved distributors are required to purchase foodstuffs and supplies from BKC-approved manufacturers and purveyors. BKC is responsible for monitoring quality control and supervision of these manufacturers and conducts regular visits to observe the preparation of foodstuffs, and to run various tests to ensure that only quality foodstuffs are sold to its approved suppliers. In addition, BKC coordinates and supervises audits of approved suppliers and distributors to determine continuing product specification compliance and to ensure that manufacturing plant and distribution center standards are met. Although we believe that we have alternative sources of supply available to our Burger King restaurants, in the event any distributor or supplier for our Burger King restaurants was unable to service us, this could lead to a disruption of service or supply at our Burger King restaurants until a new distributor or supplier is engaged, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

Quality Assurance

At each of our three concepts, our operational focus is closely monitored to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction via speed of service, order accuracy and quality of service. Our senior management and restaurant management staffs are principally responsible for ensuring compliance with our operating policies, and with respect to our Burger King restaurants, BKC’s required operating procedures. We have uniform operating standards and specifications relating to the quality, preparation and selection of menu items, maintenance and cleanliness of the premises and employee conduct. In order to maintain compliance with these operating standards and specifications, we distribute to our restaurant operations management team detailed reports measuring compliance with various customer service standards and objectives, including feedback obtained directly from our customers through instructions given to them at the point of sale. The customer feedback is monitored by an independent agency and us and consists of evaluations of speed of service, quality of service, quality of our menu items and other operational objectives including the cleanliness of our restaurants. We also have our own customer service representatives that handle customer inquiries and complaints.

We operate in accordance with quality assurance and health standards mandated by federal, state and local governmental laws and regulations. These standards include food preparation rules regarding, among other things, minimum cooking times and temperatures, maximum time standards for holding prepared food, food handling guidelines and cleanliness. To maintain these standards, we conduct unscheduled inspections of our restaurants. In addition, restaurant managers conduct internal inspections for taste, quality, cleanliness and food safety on a regular basis.

Trademarks

We believe that our names and logos for our brands are important to our operations. We have registered the principal Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana logos and designs with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on the

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Principal Register as a service mark for our restaurant services. We also have secured or have applied for state and federal registrations of several other advertising or promotional marks, including variations of the Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana principal marks, and have applied for or been granted registrations in foreign countries of the Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana principal marks and several other marks. We intend to aggressively protect both Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana trademarks by appropriate legal action whenever necessary. We also have secured or applied for registrations of the Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana marks in numerous areas outside the U.S. where we are or intend to engage in franchising our brands. In certain foreign countries, we have been involved in trademark opposition proceedings to defend our rights to register certain trademarks. In that regard, we have discovered that an individual unaffiliated with us has registered, without our knowledge, authorization or consent, a trademark in Spain and the European Community for a name and logo virtually identical to our Pollo Tropical name and logo. We have initiated a cancellation action to declare such unauthorized trademark registration null and void. Although we believe we will be successful in the action, there can be no assurance in this regard.

Other than the Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana trademarks, we have no proprietary intellectual property other than the logo and trademark of Carrols and Fiesta Restaurant Group. As a franchisee of Burger King, we also have contractual rights to use certain BKC-owned trademarks, service marks and other intellectual property relating to the Burger King concept.

Government Regulation

Various federal, state and local laws affect our business, including various health, sanitation, fire and safety standards. Restaurants to be constructed or remodeled are subject to state and local building code and zoning requirements. In connection with the development and remodeling of our restaurants, we may incur costs to meet certain federal, state and local regulations, including regulations promulgated under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

We are subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and various other federal and state laws governing such matters as:

A significant number of our food service personnel are paid at rates related to the federal, and where applicable, state minimum wage and, accordingly, increases in the minimum wage have increased and in the future will increase wage rates at our restaurants.

We are assessing the various provisions of the comprehensive federal health care reform law enacted in 2010, including the impact on our business of this new law as it becomes effective. There are no assurances that a combination of cost management and menu price increases can accommodate all of the potential increased costs associated with these regulations.

We are also subject to various federal, state and local environmental laws, rules and regulations. We believe that we conduct our operations in substantial compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations. Our costs for compliance with environmental laws or regulations have not had a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows or financial condition in the past.

Taco Cabana and Pollo Tropical are subject to alcoholic beverage control regulations that require state, county or municipal licenses or permits to sell alcoholic beverages at each location where they respectively sell alcoholic beverages. Typically, licenses must be renewed annually and may be revoked or suspended for cause at any time.

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Licensing entities, authorized with law enforcement authority, may issue violations and conduct audits and investigations of the restaurant’s records and procedures. Alcoholic beverage control regulations relate to numerous aspects of the daily operations of our Taco Cabana restaurants and certain of our Pollo Tropical restaurants, including minimum age for consumption, certification requirements for employees, hours of operation, advertising, wholesale purchasing, inventory control and handling, storage and dispensing of alcoholic beverages. These regulations also prescribe certain required banking and accounting practices related to alcohol sales and purchasing.

Our Taco Cabana restaurants and certain of our Pollo Tropical restaurants are subject to state “dram-shop” laws in the states in which they operate. Dram-shop laws provide a person injured by an intoxicated person the right to recover damages from an establishment that wrongfully served alcoholic beverages to the intoxicated or minor patron. We have specific insurance that covers claims arising under dram-shop laws. However, we cannot assure you that this insurance will be adequate to cover any claims that may be instituted against us.

With respect to the franchising of Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants, we are subject to franchise and related regulations in the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions where we offer and sell franchises. These regulations include obligations to provide disclosure about our two concepts, the franchise agreements and the franchise system as well as other organizational and financial information relating to our two concepts. The regulations also include obligations to register certain franchise documents in the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, and obligations to disclose the substantive relationship between the parties to the agreements.

Competition

The restaurant industry is highly competitive with respect to price, service, location and food quality. In each of our markets, our restaurants compete with a large number of national and regional restaurant chains, as well as locally owned restaurants, offering low and medium-priced fare. We also compete with convenience stores, delicatessens and prepared food counters in supermarkets, grocery stores, cafeterias and other purveyors of moderately priced and quickly prepared foods.

We believe that:

are the most important competitive factors in the quick-casual and quick-service restaurant segments and that our three concepts effectively compete in each category.

Pollo Tropical’s competitors include national and regional chicken-based concepts, as well as quick-service hamburger restaurant chains and other types of quick service and quick-casual restaurants.

Taco Cabana’s restaurants, although part of the quick-casual segment of the restaurant industry, compete in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico with quick-service restaurants, including those in the quick-service Mexican segment, other quick-casual restaurants and traditional casual dining Mexican restaurants. We believe that Taco Cabana’s combination of freshly prepared food, distinctive ambiance and superior service help to distinguish Taco Cabana restaurants from quick-service operators, while its price-value relationship enables it to compete favorably with more expensive casual dining Mexican restaurants.

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With respect to our Burger King restaurants, our largest competitors are McDonald’s and Wendy’s restaurants. According to Technomic, McDonald’s restaurants had aggregate U.S. system-wide sales of $32.4 billion for the year ended December 31, 2010 and operated 14,027 restaurants in the United States at that date, and Wendy’s restaurants had aggregate system-wide sales of $8.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2010 and operated 5,883 restaurants in the United States at that date.

Employees

As of January 1, 2012, we employed approximately 15,500 persons, of which approximately 400 were administrative personnel and approximately 15,100 were restaurant operations personnel. None of our employees is covered by collective bargaining agreements. We believe that our overall relations with our employees are good.

Availability of Information

We file annual, quarterly and current reports and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1 800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that site is http://www.sec.gov.

We make available through our internet website (www.carrols.com) our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing such material with the SEC. The reference to our website address is a textual reference only, meaning that it does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the website and should not be considered part of this document.

You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as other information and data included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Any of the following risks could materially adversely affect our business, consolidated financial condition or results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Business

Intense competition in the restaurant industry could make it more difficult to expand our business and could also have a negative impact on our operating results if customers favor our competitors or we are forced to change our pricing and other marketing strategies.

The restaurant industry is highly competitive. In each of our markets, our restaurants compete with a large number of national and regional restaurant chains, as well as locally owned restaurants, offering low and medium-priced fare. We also compete with convenience stores, delicatessens and prepared food counters in grocery stores, supermarkets, cafeterias and other purveyors of moderately priced and quickly prepared food.

Pollo Tropical’s competitors include national and regional chicken-based concepts as well as quick-service hamburger restaurant chains and other types of quick-service and quick-casual restaurants. Our Taco Cabana restaurants compete with quick-service restaurants, including those in the quick-service Mexican segment, other quick-casual restaurants and traditional casual dining Mexican restaurants. With respect to our Burger King restaurants, our largest competitors are McDonald’s and Wendy’s restaurants.

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To remain competitive, we, as well as certain of the other major quick-casual and quick-service restaurant chains, have increasingly offered selected food items and combination meals at discounted prices. These pricing and other marketing strategies have had, and in the future may have, a negative impact on our sales and earnings.

Factors applicable to the quick-casual and quick-service restaurant segments may adversely affect our results of operations, which may cause a decrease in earnings and revenues.

The quick-casual and quick-service restaurant segments are highly competitive and can be materially adversely affected by many factors, including:

Our continued growth depends on our ability to open and operate new restaurants profitably, which in turn depends on our continued access to capital, and newly acquired or developed restaurants may not perform as we expect and we cannot assure you that our growth and development plans will be achieved.

Our continued growth depends on our ability to develop additional Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants. Development involves substantial risks, including the following:

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We cannot assure you that our growth and development plans can be achieved. Our long-term development plans will require additional management, operational and financial resources. For example, we will be required to recruit and train managers and other personnel for each new restaurant. We cannot assure you that we will be able to manage our expanding operations effectively and our failure to do so could adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, our ability to open new restaurants and to grow, as well as our ability to meet other anticipated capital needs, will depend on our continued access to external financing, including borrowing under our new secured credit facilities. We cannot assure you that we will have access to the capital we need at acceptable terms or at all, which could materially adversely affect our business. In addition, our need to manage our financial leverage ratios in connection with the Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities may reduce our ability to develop new restaurants.

Additionally, we may encounter difficulties growing beyond our presence in our existing markets. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully grow our market presence beyond our existing markets, as we may encounter well-established competitors in new areas. In addition, we may be unable to find attractive locations or successfully market our products as we attempt to expand beyond our existing markets, as the competitive circumstances and consumer characteristics in these new areas may differ substantially from those in areas in which we currently operate. We may also not open a sufficient number of restaurants in new markets to adequately leverage distribution, supervision and marketing costs. As a result of the foregoing, we cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully or profitably operate our new restaurants outside our existing markets.

Our expansion into new markets may present increased risks due to a lack of market awareness of our brands.

Some of our new restaurants are and will be located in areas where there is a limited or a lack of market awareness of the Pollo Tropical or Taco Cabana brand and therefore it may be more challenging for us to attract customers to our restaurants. Restaurants opened in new markets may open at lower average weekly sales volumes than restaurants opened in existing markets, and may have lower restaurant-level operating margins than in existing markets. Sales at restaurants opened in new markets may take longer to reach average unit volumes, if at all, thereby adversely affecting our operating results, including the recognition of future impairment and other lease charges. Opening new restaurants in areas in which potential customers may not be familiar with our restaurants may include costs related to the opening and marketing of those restaurants that are substantially greater than those incurred by our restaurants in other areas. Even though we may incur substantial additional costs with respect to these new restaurants, they may attract fewer customers than our more established restaurants in existing markets.

We may, in the future, seek to pursue acquisitions and we may not find restaurant companies that are suitable acquisition candidates or successfully operate or integrate any restaurant companies we may acquire.

We may in the future seek to acquire other restaurant chains or additional Burger King restaurants. Although we believe that opportunities for future acquisitions may be available from time to time, increased competition for acquisition candidates exists and may continue in the future. Consequently, there may be fewer acquisition opportunities available to us as well as higher acquisition prices. There can be no assurance that we will be able to identify, acquire, manage or successfully integrate acquired restaurant companies without substantial costs, delays or operational or financial problems. In the event we are able to acquire other restaurant companies, the integration and operation of the acquired restaurants may place significant demands on our management, which could adversely affect our ability to manage our existing restaurants. We also face the risk that our existing systems, procedures and financial controls will be inadequate to support any restaurant chains we may acquire and that we may be unable to successfully integrate the operations and financial systems of any chains we may acquire with our own systems. While we may evaluate and discuss potential acquisitions from time to time, we currently have no understandings, commitments or agreements with respect to any acquisitions. We may be required to obtain additional financing to fund future acquisitions. There can be no assurance that we will be able

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to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms or at all. Both the new Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group senior secured credit facilities and the indenture governing the Fiesta Restaurant Group Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2016 (the “Fiesta Notes”) contain restrictive covenants that may prevent us from incurring additional debt or acquiring additional restaurant chains.

We could be adversely affected by food-borne illnesses, as well as widespread negative publicity regarding food quality, illness, injury or other health concerns.

Negative publicity about food quality, illness, injury or other health concerns (including health implications of obesity) or similar issues stemming from one restaurant or a number of restaurants could materially adversely affect us, regardless of whether they pertain to our own restaurants or to restaurants owned or operated by other companies. For example, health concerns about the consumption of beef or chicken or by specific events such as the outbreak of “mad cow” disease or “avian” flu could lead to changes in consumer preferences, reduce consumption of our products and adversely affect our financial performance. These events could also reduce the available supply of beef or chicken or significantly raise the price of beef or chicken.

In addition, we cannot guarantee that our operational controls and employee training will be effective in preventing food-borne illnesses, food tampering and other food safety issues that may affect our restaurants. Food-borne illness or food tampering incidents could be caused by customers, employees or food suppliers and transporters and, therefore, could be outside of our control. Any publicity relating to health concerns or the perceived or specific outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, food tampering or other food safety issues attributed to one or more of our restaurants, could result in a significant decrease in guest traffic in all of our restaurants and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, similar publicity or occurrences with respect to other restaurants or restaurant chains could also decrease our guest traffic and have a similar material adverse effect on our business.

We are highly dependent on the Burger King system and our ability to renew our franchise agreements with Burger King Corporation. The failure to renew our franchise agreements or Burger King’s failure to compete effectively could materially adversely affect our results of operations.

Due to the nature of franchising and our agreements with BKC, our success is, to a large extent, directly related to the success of the nationwide Burger King system. In turn, the ability of the nationwide Burger King system to compete effectively depends upon the success of the management of the Burger King system and the success of its advertising programs and new products. We cannot assure you that Burger King will be able to compete effectively with other quick-service restaurants. As a result, any failure of Burger King to compete effectively would likely have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

Under each of our franchise agreements with BKC, we are required to comply with operational programs established by BKC. For example, our franchise agreements with BKC require that our restaurants comply with specified design criteria. In addition, BKC generally has the right to require us during the tenth year of a franchise agreement to remodel our restaurants to conform to the then-current image of Burger King, which may require the expenditure of considerable funds. In addition we may not be able to avoid adopting menu price discount promotions or permanent menu price decreases instituted by BKC that may be unprofitable.

Our franchise agreements typically have a 20-year term after which BKC’s consent is required to receive a successor franchise agreement. Our franchise agreements with BKC that are set to expire over the next three years are as follows:

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We cannot assure you that BKC will grant each of our future requests for successor franchise agreements, and any failure of BKC to renew our franchise agreements could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, as a condition of approval of a successor franchise agreement, BKC may require us to make capital improvements to particular restaurants to bring them up to Burger King current image standards, which may require us to incur substantial costs.

In addition, our franchise agreements with BKC do not give us exclusive rights to operate Burger King restaurants in any defined territory. Although we believe that BKC generally seeks to ensure that newly granted franchises do not materially adversely affect the operations of existing Burger King restaurants, we cannot assure you that franchises granted by BKC to third parties will not adversely affect any Burger King restaurants that we operate.

We may incur significant liability or reputational harm if claims are brought against us or against our franchisees.

We or our franchisees may be subject to complaints, regulatory proceedings or litigation from guests or other persons alleging food-related illness, injuries suffered in our premises or other food quality, health or operational concerns, including environmental claims. In addition, in recent years a number of restaurant companies have been subject to lawsuits, including class action lawsuits, alleging, among other things, violations of federal and state law regarding workplace and employment matters, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and wage, rest break, meal break and overtime compensation issues and, in the case of quick service restaurants, alleging that they have failed to disclose the health risks associated with high fat or high sodium foods and that their marketing practices have encouraged obesity. We may also be subject to litigation or other actions initiated by governmental authorities, our employees and our franchisees, among others, based upon these and other matters. Adverse publicity resulting from such allegations or occurrences or alleged discrimination or other operating issues stemming from one of our locations, a number of our locations or our franchisees could adversely affect our business, regardless of whether the allegations are true, or whether we are ultimately held liable. Any cases filed against us could materially adversely affect us if we lose such cases and have to pay substantial damages or if we settle such cases. In addition, any such cases may materially and adversely affect our operations by increasing our litigation costs and diverting our attention and resources to address such actions. In addition, if a claim is successful, our insurance coverage may not cover or be adequate to cover all liabilities or losses and we may not be able to continue to maintain such insurance, or to obtain comparable insurance at a reasonable cost, if at all. If we suffer losses, liabilities or loss of income in excess of our insurance coverage or if our insurance does not cover such loss, liability or loss of income, there could be a material adverse effect on our results of operations. See Item 3 “Legal Proceedings”.

Our franchisees could take actions that harm our reputation.

As of January 1, 2012, a total of 36 Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants were owned and operated by our franchisees. We do not exercise control of the day-to-day operations of our franchisees. We expect our number of franchised restaurants to increase in the future as a result of our international franchising strategy for Pollo Tropical. While we attempt to ensure that franchisee-owned restaurants maintain the same high operating standards as our company-owned restaurants, one or more of these franchisees may fail to meet these standards. Any shortcomings at our franchisee-owned restaurants could be attributed to our company as a whole and could adversely affect our reputation and damage our brands.

If the sale-leaseback market requires significantly higher yields, we may not enter into sale-leaseback transactions and as a result would not receive the related net proceeds.

From time to time, we sell our restaurant properties in sale-leaseback transactions. We historically have used, and intend to use, the net proceeds from such transactions to reduce outstanding debt and fund future capital expenditures for new restaurant development. However, the sale-leaseback market may cease to be a

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reliable source of additional cash flows for us in the future if capitalization rates become less attractive or other unfavorable market conditions develop. For example, should the sale-leaseback market require significantly higher yields (which may occur as interest rates rise), we may not enter into sale-leaseback transactions, which could adversely affect our ability to reduce outstanding debt and fund capital expenditures for future restaurant development.

Changes in consumer taste could negatively impact our business.

We obtain a significant portion of our revenues from the sale of hamburgers, chicken, various types of sandwiches, and Caribbean, Mexican and other ethnic foods. If consumer preferences for these types of foods change, it could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. The quick-casual and quick-service restaurant segments are characterized by the frequent introduction of new products, often accompanied by substantial promotional campaigns and are subject to changing consumer preferences, tastes, and eating and purchasing habits. Our success depends on our ability to anticipate and respond to changing consumer preferences, tastes and dining and purchasing habits, as well as other factors affecting the restaurant industry, including new market entrants and demographic changes. We may be forced to make changes to our menu items in order to respond to changes in consumer tastes or dining patterns, and we may lose customers who do not prefer the new menu items. In recent years, numerous companies in the quick-casual and quick-service restaurant segments have introduced products positioned to capitalize on the growing consumer preference for food products that are, or are perceived to be, promoting good health, nutritious, low in calories and low in fat content. If we do not or, in the case of our Burger King restaurants, if Burger King Corporation does not, continually develop and successfully introduce new menu offerings that appeal to changing consumer preferences or if we do not timely capitalize on new products, our operating results could suffer. In addition, any significant event that adversely affects consumption of our products, such as cost, changing tastes or health concerns, could adversely affect our financial performance.

If a significant disruption in service or supply by any of our suppliers or distributors were to occur, it could create disruptions in the operations of our restaurants, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our financial performance is dependent on our continuing ability to offer fresh, quality food at competitive prices. If a significant disruption in service or supply by our suppliers or distributors were to occur, it could create disruptions in the operations of our restaurants, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

For our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants, we have negotiated directly with local and national suppliers for the purchase of food and beverage products and supplies. Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants’ food and supplies are ordered from approved suppliers and are shipped via distributors to the restaurants. For our Pollo Tropical restaurants, Performance Food Group, Inc. is our primary distributor of food and paper products under an agreement that expires on May 15, 2012. Also for our Pollo Tropical restaurants Kelly Food Service is our primary distributor for chicken under an agreement that expires on December 31, 2012. We currently rely on two suppliers under agreements that expire on December 31, 2012 as our suppliers of chicken for our Pollo Tropical restaurants. For our Taco Cabana restaurants, SYGMA Network, Inc. is our primary distributor of food and beverage products and supplies under a distribution services agreement that expires on June 30, 2014. With respect to our distributors for our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants, if our suppliers or distributors were unable to service us, this could lead to a material disruption of service or supply until a new supplier or distributor is engaged, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

For our Burger King restaurants, we are a member of a national purchasing cooperative, Restaurant Services, Inc., which serves as the purchasing agent for approved distributors to the Burger King system. We are required to purchase all of our foodstuffs, paper goods and packaging materials from BKC-approved suppliers for our Burger King restaurants. We currently utilize three distributors, Maines Paper & Food Service, Inc., Reinhart Food Service L.L.C. and MBM Food Service Inc., to supply our Burger King restaurants with the

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majority of their foodstuffs in various geographical areas and, as of January 1, 2012, such distributors supplied 64%, 32% and 4%, respectively of our Burger King restaurants. Although we believe that we have alternative sources of supply available to our Burger King restaurants, in the event any distributors or suppliers for our Burger King restaurants are unable to service us, this could lead to a disruption of service or supply at our Burger King restaurants until a new distributor or supplier is engaged, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

If labor costs increase, we may not be able to make a corresponding increase in our prices and our operating results may be adversely affected.

Wage rates for a substantial number of our employees are above the federal and or state minimum wage rates. As federal and/or state minimum wage rates increase, we may need to increase not only the wage rates of our minimum wage employees but also the wages paid to the employees at wage rates which are above the minimum wage, which will increase our costs. To the extent that we are not able to raise our prices to compensate for increases in wage rates, including increases in state unemployment insurance costs or other costs including mandated health insurance, this could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. In addition, even if minimum wage rates do not increase, we may still be required to raise wage rates in order to compete for an adequate supply of labor for our restaurants.

The efficiency and quality of our competitors’ advertising and promotional programs and the extent and cost of our advertising could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

If our competitors increase spending on advertising and promotion, or the cost of television or radio advertising increases, or our advertising and promotions are less effective than our competitors’, there could be a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. The success of our Burger King restaurants also depends upon the effectiveness of the advertising campaigns and promotions by BKC.

Newly developed restaurants may reduce sales at our neighboring restaurants.

We intend to continue to open restaurants in our existing markets served by our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana restaurants. To the extent that we open a new restaurant in the vicinity of one or more of our existing restaurants, it is possible that some of the customers who previously patronized those existing restaurants may choose instead to patronize the new restaurant, which may result in decreased sales at our existing restaurants. Accordingly, to the extent we open new restaurants in our existing markets, sales at some of our existing restaurants in those markets may decline.

Our business is regional and we therefore face risks related to reliance on certain markets as well as risks for other unforeseen events.

As of January 1, 2012, excluding our franchised locations, all but six of our Pollo Tropical restaurants were located in Florida and all but six of our Taco Cabana restaurants were located in Texas. Also, as of January 1, 2012, approximately 65% of our Burger King restaurants were located in New York and Ohio. Therefore, the economic conditions, state and local government regulations, weather conditions or other conditions affecting Florida, Texas, New York and Ohio and the tourism industry affecting Florida and other unforeseen events, including war, terrorism and other international conflicts may have a material impact on the success of our restaurants in those locations.

Many of our restaurants are located in regions that may be susceptible to severe weather conditions. As a result, adverse weather conditions in any of these areas could damage these restaurants, result in fewer guest visits to these restaurants and otherwise have a material adverse impact on our business. For example, our Florida and Texas restaurants are susceptible to hurricanes and other severe tropical weather events and many of our Burger King restaurants, and in the past, our Taco Cabana restaurants, have been affected by severe winter weather.

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Economic downturns may adversely impact consumer spending patterns.

The U.S. economy has undergone, and is currently continuing to undergo, a significant slowdown and volatility due to uncertainties related to availability of credit, difficulties in the banking and financial services sectors, softness in the housing market, diminished market liquidity, falling consumer confidence and high unemployment rates. Our business is dependent to a significant extent on national, regional and local economic conditions, particularly those that affect our guests that frequently patronize our restaurants. In particular, where our customers’ disposable income is reduced (such as by job losses, credit constraints and higher housing, tax, energy, interest or other costs) or where the perceived wealth of customers has decreased (because of circumstances such as lower residential real estate values, increased foreclosure rates, increased tax rates or other economic disruptions), our restaurants have in the past experienced, and may in the future experience, lower sales and customer traffic as customers choose lower-cost alternatives or choose alternatives to dining out. The resulting decrease in our customer traffic or average sales per transaction has had an adverse effect in the past, and could in the future have a material adverse effect, on our business.

We cannot assure you that the current locations of our existing restaurants will continue to be economically viable or that additional locations will be acquired at reasonable costs.

The location of our restaurants has significant influence on their success. We cannot assure you that current locations will continue to be economically viable or that additional locations can be acquired at reasonable costs. In addition, the economic environment where restaurants are located could decline in the future, which could result in reduced sales in those locations. We cannot assure you that new sites will be profitable or as profitable as existing sites.

Changes in our management could negatively impact our business and financial and operating results.

On July 21, 2011 we announced the hiring of Tim Taft as the new Chief Executive Officer and President of Fiesta Restaurant Group, effective August 15, 2011. Mr. Taft succeeded Alan Vituli as Chief Executive Officer of Fiesta Restaurant Group. Changes in our management, including but not limited to changes in connection with the spin-off, and including the recent hiring of Mr. Taft as Fiesta Restaurant Group’s new CEO and President, could increase uncertainty in our business, result in changes in our business, result in disruptions to our business or in other changes in management, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The loss of the services of our senior management could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our success depends to a large extent upon the continued services of our senior management who have substantial experience in the restaurant industry. We believe that it could be difficult to replace our senior management with individuals having comparable experience. Consequently, the loss of the services of members of our senior management could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Government regulation could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to extensive laws and regulations relating to the development and operation of restaurants, including regulations relating to the following:

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In the event that legislation having a negative impact on our business is adopted, it could have a material adverse impact on us. For example, substantial increases in the minimum wage or state or Federal unemployment taxes could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Local zoning or building codes or regulations and liquor license approvals can cause substantial delays in our ability to build and open new restaurants. Local authorities may revoke, suspend or deny renewal of our liquor licenses if they determine that our conduct violates applicable regulations. Any failure to obtain and maintain required licenses, permits and approvals could adversely affect our operating results.

We are assessing the various provisions of the comprehensive federal health care reform law enacted in 2010, including its impact on our business as it becomes effective. There are no assurances that a combination of cost management and menu price increases can offset all of the potential increased costs associated with these regulations.

If one of our employees sells alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated or minor patron, we may be liable to third parties for the acts of the patron.

We serve alcoholic beverages at our Taco Cabana restaurants and at select Pollo Tropical restaurant locations and are subject to the “dram-shop” statutes of the jurisdictions in which we serve alcoholic beverages. “Dram-shop” statutes generally provide that serving alcohol to an intoxicated or minor patron is a violation of the law.

In most jurisdictions, if one of our employees sells alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated or minor patron we may be liable to third parties for the acts of the patron. We cannot guarantee that those patrons will not be served or that we will not be subject to liability for their acts. Our liquor liability insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover any potential liability and insurance may not continue to be available on commercially acceptable terms or at all, or we may face increased deductibles on such insurance. A significant “dram-shop” claim or claims could have a material adverse effect on us as a result of the costs of defending against such claims; paying deductibles and increased insurance premium amounts; implementing improved training and heightened control procedures for our employees; and paying any damages or settlements on such claims.

Federal, state and local environmental regulations relating to the use, storage, discharge, emission and disposal of hazardous materials could expose us to liabilities, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local environmental regulations relating to the use, storage, discharge, emission and disposal of hazardous substances or other regulated materials, release of pollutants into the air, soil and water, and the remediation of contaminated sites.

Failure to comply with environmental laws could result in the imposition of fines or penalties, restrictions on operations by governmental agencies or courts of law, as well as investigatory or remedial liabilities and

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claims for alleged personal injury or damages to property or natural resources. Some environmental laws impose strict, and under some circumstances joint and several, liability for costs of investigation and remediation of contaminated sites on current and prior owners or operators of the sites, as well as those entities that send regulated materials to the sites. We cannot assure you that we have been or will be at all times in complete compliance with such laws, regulations and permits. Therefore, our costs of complying with current and future environmental, health and safety laws could adversely affect our results of operations.

We are subject to all of the risks associated with leasing property subject to long-term non-cancelable leases.

The leases for our restaurant locations generally have initial terms of 20 years, and typically provide for renewal options in five year increments as well as for rent escalations. Generally, our leases are “net” leases, which require us to pay all of the costs of insurance, taxes, maintenance and utilities. We generally cannot cancel these leases. Additional sites that we lease are likely to be subject to similar long-term non-cancelable leases. If an existing or future restaurant is not profitable, and we decide to close it, we may nonetheless be obligated to perform our monetary obligations under the applicable lease including, among other things, paying all amounts due for the balance of the lease term. In addition, as each of our leases expire, we may fail to negotiate renewals, either on commercially acceptable terms or at all, which could cause us to close restaurants in desirable locations.

Our failure or inability to enforce our trademarks or other proprietary rights could adversely affect our competitive position or the value of our brand.

We own certain common law trademark rights and a number of federal and international trademark and service mark registrations, including the Pollo Tropical name and logo and Taco Cabana name and logo, and proprietary rights relating to certain of our core menu offerings. We believe that our trademarks and other proprietary rights are important to our success and our competitive position. We, therefore, devote appropriate resources to the protection of our trademarks and proprietary rights. The protective actions that we take, however, may not be enough to prevent unauthorized usage or imitation by others, which could harm our image, brand or competitive position and, if we commence litigation to enforce our rights, cause us to incur significant legal fees.

We are not aware of any assertions that our trademarks or menu offerings infringe upon the proprietary rights of third parties, but we cannot assure you that third parties will not claim infringement by us in the future. Any such claim, whether or not it has merit, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, cause delays in introducing new menu items in the future or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. As a result, any such claim could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

An increase in food costs could adversely affect our operating results.

Our profitability and operating margins are dependent in part on our ability to anticipate and react to changes in food costs. Changes in the price or availability of certain food products could affect our ability to offer a broad menu and price offering to guests and could materially adversely affect our profitability and reputation. The type, variety, quality and price of produce, beef and poultry and cheese can be subject to change and to factors beyond our control, including weather, governmental regulation, availability and seasonality, each of which may affect our food costs or cause a disruption in our supply. For example, weather patterns in recent years have resulted in lower than normal levels of rainfall in key agricultural states such as California, impacting the price of water and the corresponding prices of food commodities grown in states facing drought conditions. Our food distributors or suppliers also may be affected by higher costs to produce and transport commodities used in our restaurants, higher minimum wage and benefit costs and other expenses that they pass through to their customers, which could result in higher costs for goods and services supplied to us. Although we are able to contract for certain of the food commodities used in our restaurants for periods of up to one year, the pricing and availability of some of the commodities used in our operations cannot be locked in for periods of longer than one

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week or at all. Currently, we have contracts of varying lengths with several of our distributors and suppliers, including our distributors and suppliers of poultry. We do not use financial instruments to hedge our risk to market fluctuations in the price of beef, seafood, produce and other food products at this time. We may not be able to anticipate and react to changing food costs (including anticipated increases in food costs in 2012) through our purchasing practices and menu price adjustments in the future, and failure to do so could negatively impact our revenues and results of operations.

Security breaches of confidential guest information in connection with our electronic processing of credit and debit card transactions may adversely affect our business.

A significant amount of our restaurant sales are by credit or debit cards. Other restaurants and retailers have experienced security breaches in which credit and debit card information of their customers has been stolen. We may in the future become subject to lawsuits or other proceedings for purportedly fraudulent transactions arising out of the actual or alleged theft of our guests’ credit or debit card information. Any such claim or proceeding, or any adverse publicity resulting from these allegations, may have a material adverse effect on us and our restaurants.

We are dependent on information technology and any material failure of that technology could impair our ability to efficiently operate our business.

We rely on information systems across our operations, including, for example, point-of-sale processing in our restaurants, management of our supply chain, collection of cash, and payment of obligations and various other processes and procedures. Our ability to efficiently manage our business depends significantly on the reliability and capacity of these systems. The failure of these systems to operate effectively, problems with maintenance, upgrading or transitioning to replacement systems or a breach in security of these systems could cause delays in customer service and reduce efficiency in our operations. These risks may be increased as a result of integration challenges following the financing transactions. Significant capital investments might be required to remediate any problems.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile or may decline regardless of our operating performance.

The trading price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially. The price of our common stock that will prevail in the market may be higher or lower than the price you pay, depending on many factors, some of which are beyond our control. Broad market and industry factors may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. The fluctuations could cause a loss of all or part of an investment in our common stock. Factors that could cause fluctuation in the trading price of our common stock may include, but are not limited to the following:

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In addition, if the market for restaurant company stocks or the stock market in general experiences loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, results of operations or financial condition. The trading price of our common stock might also decline in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry (including BKC) or related industries even if these events do not directly affect us.

In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, class action securities litigation has often been brought against that company. Due to the potential volatility of our stock price, we may therefore be the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business, and could also require us to make substantial payments to satisfy judgments or to settle litigation.

The concentrated ownership of our capital stock by insiders will likely limit your ability to influence corporate matters.

Our executive officers, directors and Jefferies Capital Partners IV LP, Jefferies Employee Partners IV LLC and JCP Partners IV LLC (collectively referred to as the “JCP Group”) together beneficially own at March 5, 2012 approximately 34.2% of our common stock outstanding. In particular, the JCP Group, our largest stockholder, collectively beneficially own approximately 28.3% of our outstanding common stock, based on shares outstanding as of March 5, 2012. In addition, our executive officers and directors (excluding directors affiliated with the JCP Group) together beneficially own approximately 5.9%% of our common stock outstanding, based on shares outstanding as of March 5, 2012. As a result, our executive officers, directors and the JCP Group, if they act as a group, will be able to significantly influence matters that require approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions. The directors will have the authority to make decisions affecting our capital structure, including the issuance of additional debt and the declaration of dividends. The JCP Group may also have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a way with which you disagree and which may be adverse to your interests. Corporate action might be taken even if other stockholders oppose them. This concentration of ownership might also have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of our company that other stockholders may view as beneficial, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of a sale of our company and might ultimately depress the market price of our common stock.

We do not expect to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future, and the Indenture governing the Fiesta Notes and the senior credit facility limit Carrols and its subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends to us and consequently our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders.

We do not anticipate that we will pay any cash dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future. The absence of a dividend on our common stock may increase the volatility of the market price of our common stock or make it more likely that the market price of our common stock will decrease in the event of adverse economic conditions or adverse developments affecting our company. We are a holding company and conduct all of our operations through our direct and indirect subsidiaries. As a result, for us to pay dividends, we would need to rely on dividends or distributions to us from Carrols and indirectly from subsidiaries of Carrols.

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The indenture governing the Fiesta Notes and the Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities limit, and the debt instruments that we and our subsidiaries may enter into in the future may limit the ability of the subsidiaries of Carrols to pay dividends to Carrols and, in turn, Carrols’ ability to pay dividends to us and our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they downgrade our stock, the price of our stock could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We cannot assure you that these analysts will publish research or reports about us or that any analysts that do so will not discontinue publishing research or reports about us in the future. If one or more analysts who cover us downgrade our stock, our stock price could decline rapidly. If analysts do not publish reports about us or if one or more analysts cease coverage of our stock, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

Provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, as amended, or Delaware law might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.

Delaware corporate law and our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, as amended, contain provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous. These provisions:

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Our indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition.

We have a substantial amount of indebtedness. As of January 1, 2012, we had $278.6 million of outstanding indebtedness, including outstanding borrowings of $67.4 million under the Carrols LLC senior credit facility, $200.0 million of Fiesta Notes, $10.1 million of lease financing obligations and $1.1 million of capital leases. As a result, we are a highly leveraged company.

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As a result of our indebtedness, a significant portion of our cash flow will be required to pay interest and principal on our outstanding indebtedness, and we may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations, or have future borrowings available under our new Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities, to enable us to repay our indebtedness, including the Fiesta Notes, or to fund other liquidity needs.

Our indebtedness could have important consequences to you. For example, it could:

We expect to use cash flow from operations to meet our current and future financial obligations, including funding our operations, debt service and capital expenditures. Our ability to make these payments depends on our future performance, which will be affected by financial, business, economic and other factors, many of which we cannot control. Our business may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations in the future, which could result in our being unable to repay indebtedness, or to fund other liquidity needs. If we do not have enough cash flow, we may be forced to reduce or delay our business activities and capital expenditures, sell assets, obtain additional debt or equity capital or restructure or refinance all or a portion of our debt, including our new Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured senior credit facilities and the Fiesta Notes, on or before maturity. We cannot make any assurances that we will be able to accomplish any of these alternatives on terms acceptable to us, or at all. In addition, the terms of existing or future indebtedness, including the agreements for our new revolving credit facility, may limit our ability to pursue any of these alternatives.

Despite current indebtedness levels and restrictive covenants, we may still be able to incur more debt or make certain restricted payments, which could further exacerbate the risks described above.

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur additional debt in the future, including debt that may be secured on a first lien basis or pari passu with the Fiesta Notes. Although the new Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities and the indenture governing the Fiesta Notes contain restrictions on our ability to incur indebtedness, those restrictions are subject to a number of exceptions. In addition, if we are able to designate some of our restricted subsidiaries under the indenture governing the Fiesta Notes as unrestricted subsidiaries, those unrestricted subsidiaries would be permitted to borrow beyond the limitations specified in the indenture and engage in other activities in which restricted subsidiaries may not engage. We may also consider investments in joint ventures or acquisitions, which may increase our indebtedness. Moreover, although our new Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities and the indenture governing the Fiesta Notes contain restrictions on our ability to make restricted payments, including the declaration and payment of dividends, we are able to make such restricted payments under certain circumstances. Adding new debt to current debt levels or making restricted payments could intensify the related risks that we and our subsidiaries now face.

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We may not have the funds necessary to satisfy all of our obligations under the Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities, the Fiesta Notes or other indebtedness in connection with certain change of control events.

Upon the occurrence of specific kinds of change of control events, the indenture governing the Fiesta Notes requires us to make an offer to repurchase all outstanding notes at 101% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest (and additional interest, if any) to the date of repurchase. However, it is possible that we will not have sufficient funds, or the ability to raise sufficient funds, at the time of the change of control to make the required repurchase of the Fiesta Notes. In addition, restrictions under Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities may not allow us to repurchase the Fiesta Notes upon a change of control. If we could not refinance such debt or otherwise obtain a waiver from the holders of such debt, we would be prohibited from repurchasing the Fiesta Notes, which would constitute an event of default under the indenture. Certain important corporate events, such as leveraged recapitalizations that would increase the level of our indebtedness, would not constitute a “Change of Control” under the indenture.

In addition, the Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group new secured credit facilities provide that certain change of control events constitute an event of default under the new secured credit facilities. Such an event of default entitles the lenders thereunder to, among other things, cause all outstanding debt obligations under the Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities to become due and payable and to proceed against the collateral securing such new secured credit facility. Any event of default or acceleration of the Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group secured credit facilities will likely also cause a default under the terms of our other indebtedness.

The agreements governing our debt agreements restrict our ability to engage in some business and financial transactions.

Our debt agreements, including the indenture governing the Fiesta Notes and the agreements governing the Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Group new secured credit facilities, restrict our ability in certain circumstances to, among other things:

These covenants limit our operational flexibility and could prevent us from taking advantage of business opportunities as they arise, growing our business or competing effectively. In addition, our new revolving credit facility requires us to maintain specified financial ratios and satisfy other financial condition tests. At January 1, 2012 we were in compliance with covenants our secured credit facilities, however our ability to meet these financial ratios and tests can be affected by events beyond our control, and we cannot assure you that we will meet these tests.

A breach of any of these covenants or other provisions in our debt agreements could result in an event of default, which if not cured or waived, could result in such debt becoming immediately due and payable. This, in turn, could cause our other debt to become due and payable as a result of cross-acceleration provisions contained

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in the agreements governing such other debt. In the event that some or all of our debt is accelerated and becomes immediately due and payable, we may not have the funds to repay, or the ability to refinance, such debt. In addition, in the event that the notes become immediately due and payable, the holders of the notes would not be entitled to receive any payment in respect of the notes until all of our senior debt has been paid in full.

Risks Related to the Proposed Spin-off

There can be no assurance that the spin-off will be completed in April 2012 or at all and the spin-off could result in issues we do not yet anticipate.

We anticipate that the spin-off will be completed in April 2012, although there can be no assurance that the spin-off will be completed within such time period or at all. Our ability to complete the proposed spin-off is conditioned on, among other things, final approval of our Board of Directors, receipt of a favorable private letter tax ruling from the IRS, which has been received, the effectiveness of Fiesta Restaurant Group’s Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the SEC with respect to the registration of its common stock under the Exchange Act and final listing approval of the Fiesta Restaurant Group common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market, and may be affected by unanticipated developments or changes in market conditions. Further, if we complete the proposed spin-off, we may not achieve the intended results and may result in additional operating expenses for both companies in the aggregate.

We currently share members of senior management and directors with Fiesta Restaurant Group which means those members of senior management have not devoted their full time and attention to our affairs and the overlap may give rise to conflicts.

Until the completion of the spin-off, certain of our executive officers and certain other members of our senior management will continue to serve as executive officers and members of senior management of Fiesta Restaurant Group. As a result, prior to the completion of the spin-off, certain of our executive officers and certain other members of our senior management have not devoted and will not devote their full time and attention to our affairs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, until the completion of the spin-off, all of the members of our Board of Directors will also continue to serve as directors of Fiesta Restaurant Group. Additionally, Nicolas Daraviras, currently a member of the board of directors of Fiesta Restaurant Group, Carrols Restaurant Group and Carrols, will remain as a director of Fiesta Restaurant Group, Carrols Restaurant Group and Carrols following the spin-off. Also, Paul R. Flanders, the Chief Financial Officer of Carrols Restaurant Group, will serve as interim Chief Financial Officer of Fiesta Restaurant Group effective as of the completion of the spin-off until such time as Fiesta Restaurant Group hires a permanent Chief Financial Officer. These directors and certain members of management may have actual or apparent conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving or affecting us or Fiesta Restaurant Group. For example, there could be the potential for a conflict of interest when we or Fiesta Restaurant Group look at acquisitions and other corporate opportunities that may be suitable for both companies. Also, conflicts may arise if there are issues or disputes under the commercial arrangements that will exist between Fiesta Restaurant Group and us. Our Board of Directors and the Board of Directors of Fiesta Restaurant Group will review and address any potential conflict of interests that may arise between Fiesta Restaurant Group and us. Although no specific measures to resolve such conflicts of interest have been formulated, our Board of Directors and the Board of Directors of Fiesta Restaurant Group have a fiduciary obligation to deal fairly and in good faith. Our Board of Directors intends to exercise reasonable judgment and take such steps as they deem necessary under all of the circumstances in resolving any specific conflict of interest which may occur and will determine what, if any, specific measures, such as retention of an independent advisor, independent counsel or special committee, may be necessary or appropriate. Any such conflict could have a material adverse effect on our business.

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We, Fiesta Restaurant Group and our stockholders may be subject to substantial liabilities if the spin-off is treated as a taxable transaction.

We have received, and the completion of the spin-off is subject to and conditioned upon our receipt of, a private letter ruling from the IRS to the effect that, among other things, the spin-off will qualify as a tax-free distribution for U.S. federal income tax purposes under Section 355 of the Code and as part of a tax-free reorganization under Section 368(a)(1)(D) of the Code, and the transfer to Fiesta Restaurant Group of assets and the assumption by Fiesta Restaurant Group of liabilities in connection with the spin-off will not result in the recognition of any gain or loss for U.S. federal income tax purposes to us or Carrols, except to the extent the amount of financing proceeds distributed from Fiesta Restaurant Group to Carrols exceeds the adjusted tax basis of the assets contributed by Carrols to Fiesta Restaurant Group. It is also expected that our tax advisor will provide us with a tax opinion covering certain matters not covered in the private letter ruling. Said tax opinion is not binding on the IRS or the courts.

Although a private letter ruling is generally binding on the IRS, the continuing validity of the ruling will be subject to the accuracy of factual representations and assumptions made in connection with obtaining such private letter ruling, including with respect to post-spin-off operations and conduct of the parties. Also, as part of the IRS’s general policy with respect to rulings on spin-off transactions under Section 355 of the Code, the private letter ruling obtained by us is based upon representations by us that certain conditions which are necessary to obtain tax-free treatment under the Code have been satisfied, rather than a determination by the IRS that these conditions have been satisfied. Failure to satisfy such necessary conditions, or any inaccuracy in any representations made by us in connection with the ruling, could invalidate the ruling.

If the spin-off does not qualify for tax-free treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes, then, in general, Carrols would be subject to tax as if it has sold the common stock of Fiesta Restaurant Group in a taxable sale for its fair market value, and our stockholders would be subject to tax as if they had received a taxable distribution in an amount equal to the fair market value of Fiesta Restaurant Group common stock distributed to them. It is expected that the amount of any such taxes to our stockholders and to Carrols would be substantial. Under applicable law and regulations, we and Fiesta Restaurant Group would be jointly and severally liable for taxes incurred by them in connection with the distribution.

It is anticipated that a tax matters agreement to be entered into by Fiesta Restaurant Group with us and Carrols in connection with the spin-off will (1) govern the allocation of the tax assets and liabilities between Fiesta Restaurant Group, us and Carrols, (2) provide for certain restrictions and indemnities in connection with the tax treatment of the spin-off and (3) address certain other tax related matters including, without limitation, those relating to (a) the obligations of us and Carrols and Fiesta Restaurant Group with respect to the preparation of filing of tax returns for all periods, and (b) the control of any income tax audits and any indemnities with respect thereto. It is further anticipated that in the tax matters agreement, we will agree to indemnify Fiesta Restaurant Group for losses and taxes imposed on Fiesta Restaurant Group and its affiliates resulting from our breach of our representations or covenants or our undertaking not to take certain post-spin-off actions, including with respect to our stock or assets, that would be inconsistent with or cause to be untrue any material information, covenant, or representation made in connection with the private letter ruling obtained by us from the IRS.

We will agree to certain restrictions in order to comply with U.S. federal income tax requirements for a tax-free spin-off and may not be able to engage in acquisitions with related parties and other strategic transactions that may otherwise be in our best interests.

Current U.S. federal tax law that applies to spin-offs generally creates a presumption that the spin-off would be taxable to us but not to our stockholders if we engage in, or enter into an agreement to engage in, a plan or series of related transactions that would result in the acquisition of a 50% or greater interest (by vote or by value) in our stock ownership during the four-year period beginning on the date that begins two years before the spin-off, unless it is established that the transaction is not pursuant to a plan related to the spin-off. United States

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Treasury Regulations generally provide that whether an acquisition of our stock and a spin-off are part of a plan is determined based on all of the facts and circumstances, including specific factors listed in the regulations. In addition, the regulations provide certain “safe harbors” for acquisitions of our stock that are not considered to be part of a plan related to the spin-off.

There are other restrictions imposed on us under current U.S. federal tax law for spin-offs and with which we will need to comply in order to preserve the favorable tax treatment of the distribution, such as limitations on sales or redemptions of our common stock for cash or other property following the distribution.

In the tax matters agreement with Fiesta Restaurant Group which we will enter into in connection with the spin-off, we will agree that, among other things, we will not take any actions that would result in any tax being imposed on us as a result of the spin-off. Further, for the two-year period following the spin-off, we will agree not to: (1) enter into, approve, agree to enter into, or substantially negotiate any transaction or series of transactions (in whatever form) resulting in a greater than 45% change in ownership of the vote or value of our equity or the equity of the surviving or successor entity, (2) merge, consolidate, liquidate, or partially liquidate ourselves or any of the entities conducting the business relied upon in the IRS ruling as the “active business” of Carrols Restaurant Group, (3) permit the termination, sale, or transfer of, or a material change in, the business relied upon in the IRS ruling as the “active business” of Carrols Restaurant Group or the sale, issuance, or other disposition of the equity of the entities conducting such business, (4) sell or otherwise dispose of assets in a way that would adversely affect tax-free status, (5) repurchase any of our stock except in circumstances permitted by IRS guidelines, or (6) take any actions inconsistent with the representations or covenants in the IRS ruling request, inconsistent with the ruling or tax opinion, or that would be reasonably likely to otherwise jeopardize tax-free status.

We will, however, be permitted to take certain actions otherwise prohibited by the tax matters agreement if we provide Fiesta Restaurant Group with an opinion of tax counsel or private letter ruling from the IRS, reasonably acceptable to Fiesta Restaurant Group, to the effect that these actions will not affect the tax-free nature of the spin-off. These restrictions could substantially limit our strategic and operational flexibility, including our ability to finance our operations by issuing equity securities, make acquisitions using equity securities, repurchase our equity securities, raise money by selling assets, or enter into business combination transactions.

Completing the spin-off might present significant challenges.

There is a significant degree of difficulty and management distraction inherent in the process of completing the spin-off of Fiesta Restaurant Group. These difficulties include:

The spin-off might not be completed as successfully and cost-effectively as we anticipate. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As noted above, our ability to remain in compliance with agreements and covenants in our debt instruments depends upon our results of operations and may be affected by events beyond our control, including economic, financial and industry conditions. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will remain in compliance with those agreements and covenants.

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The terms of the spin-off of Fiesta Restaurant Group may reduce the likelihood of any potential change of control or unsolicited acquisition proposal that you might consider favorable.

The terms of the spin-off of Fiesta Restaurant Group could delay or prevent a change of control that you may favor. An acquisition or issuance of our common stock could trigger the application of Section 355(e) of the Code. Under the tax matters agreement that we will enter into with Fiesta Restaurant Group in connection with the spin-off, we would be required to indemnify Fiesta Restaurant Group for the resulting tax in connection with such an acquisition or issuance and this indemnity obligation might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control that you may consider favorable.

Our smaller size may affect the trading market for our shares and we cannot predict the prices at which our common stock may trade.

We will be a substantially smaller company than we were prior to the spin-off and we cannot predict the prices at which our common stock may trade after the spin-off. Our trading volume, once it has stabilized following the spin-off, may be lower than our historical trading volume. Also, it is possible that there will be less market and institutional interest in our shares, and that we will not attract substantial coverage in the analyst community. As a result, the trading market for our shares may be less liquid, making it more difficult for investors to dispose of their shares at favorable prices. Additionally, there can be no assurance that the combined trading prices of our common stock and Fiesta Restaurant Group common stock after the spin-off will be greater than the trading price for our common stock prior to the spin-off, and the combined trading prices may be lower.

None

As of January 1, 2012, we owned or leased the following restaurant properties:

As of January 1, 2012, we leased 97% of our Pollo Tropical restaurants, 96% of our Taco Cabana restaurants and 97% of our Burger King restaurants. We typically enter into leases (including renewal options) ranging from 20 to 40 years. The average remaining term for all leases, including options, was approximately 24 years at January 1, 2012. Generally, we have been able to renew leases, upon or prior to their expiration, at the prevailing market rates, although there can be no assurance that this will continue to occur.

Most of our Burger King restaurant leases are coterminous with the related franchise agreements. We believe that we generally will be able to renew, at commercially reasonable rates, the leases whose terms expire prior to the expiration of that location’s Burger King franchise agreement, although there can be no assurance that this will occur.

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Most leases require us to pay utility and water charges and real estate taxes. Certain leases also require contingent rentals based upon a percentage of gross sales of the particular restaurant that exceed specified minimums. In some of our mall locations, we are also required to pay certain other charges such as a pro rata share of the mall’s common area maintenance costs, insurance and security costs.

In addition to the restaurant locations set forth under Item 1. “Business—Restaurant Locations”, we own a building with approximately 25,300 square feet at 968 James Street, Syracuse, New York, which houses our executive offices and most of our administrative operations for our Burger King restaurants. We lease five small regional offices that support the management of our Burger King restaurants. We also lease approximately 13,500 square feet at 7300 North Kendall Drive, 8th Floor, Miami, Florida, which houses most of our administrative operations for our Pollo Tropical restaurants. In addition, we lease approximately 17,700 square feet of office space at 8918 Tesoro Drive, Suite 200, San Antonio, Texas, which houses most of our administrative operations for our Taco Cabana restaurants.

On November 16, 1998, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (the “Court”), under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, against Carrols. The complaint alleged that Carrols engaged in a pattern or practice of unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation against former and current female employees. The EEOC ultimately attempted to present evidence of 511 individuals that it believed constituted the “class” of claimants for which it was seeking monetary and injunctive relief from Carrols. On April 20, 2005, the Court issued a decision and order granting Carrols’ Motion for Summary Judgment that Carrols filed in January 2004, dismissing the EEOC’s pattern or practice claim. Carrols then moved for summary judgment against the claims of the 511 individual claimants. On March 2, 2011, the Court issued a decision and order granting summary judgment against the claims of all but 131 of the 511 individual claimants and dismissed 380 of the individual claimants from the case. Both the EEOC and Carrols subsequently filed motions for reconsideration in part of the Court’s March 2, 2011 decision and order, which motions were denied by the Court in a decision and order issued February 10, 2012. Pursuant to the Court’s order the parties submitted on March 1, 2012 letter briefs outlining their respective proposals on how the Court should proceed with the trials of the remaining claimants.

Subject to possible appeal by the EEOC, the EEOC’s pattern or practice claim is dismissed however; the Court has yet to determine how the claims of the individual claimants will proceed. Although we believe that the EEOC’s continued class litigation argument is without merit, it is not possible to predict the outcome of that matter on an appeal, if one is taken. We do not believe that any of the remaining claims, individually or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We are a party to various other litigation matters incidental to the conduct of our business. We do not believe that the outcome of any of these other matters will have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

None.

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PART II

Our common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “TAST”. The common stock has been quoted on the NASDAQ Global Market since December 15, 2006. On March 5, 2012, there were 23,159,538 shares of our common stock outstanding held by 821 holders of record. This excludes persons whose shares are held by a brokerage house or clearing agency. The closing price of our common stock on March 5, 2012 was $12.04.

The following table sets for the range of high and low closing prices of our common stock for the periods indicated, as reported by the NASDAQ Global Market:

Dividends

We did not pay any cash dividends during the fiscal years 2011 or 2010. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all available funds to fund the development and growth of our business. In addition, we are a holding company and conduct all of our operations through our direct and indirect subsidiaries. As a result, for us to pay dividends, we need to rely on dividends or distributions to us from Carrols and indirectly from subsidiaries of Carrols. The Indenture governing the Fiesta Notes and the new Carrols LLC and Fiesta Restaurant Groupsenior credit facilities each limit, and debt instruments that we and our subsidiaries may enter into in the future may limit the ability of the subsidiaries of Carrols to pay dividends to Carrols and, in turn, of Carrols’ ability to pay dividends to us and our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders.

Stock Performance Graph

The following graph compares, from December 31, 2006, the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock with the cumulative total returns of The NASDAQ Composite Index and a peer group, The S&P Small Cap 600 Restaurants Index. We have elected to use the S&P Small Cap 600 Restaurants Index in compiling our stock performance graph because we believes the S&P Small Cap 600 Restaurants Index represents a comparison to competitors with similar market capitalization as us.

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The following graph is based upon the closing price of our common stock from December 31, 2006 through December 31, 2011.

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The following table sets forth our selected consolidated financial data derived from our audited consolidated financial statements for each of the years ended December 31, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The information in the following table should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes as of December 31, 2010 and 2011 and for the years ended December 31, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included under Item 7 of this Annual Report. These historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected in the future. Our fiscal years ended December 31, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 each contained 52 weeks. Our fiscal year ended December 31, 2009 contained 53 weeks.

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