CKE Restaurants, owner of the Hardee's brand, announced on July 7 that two Hardee's restaurants, the first burger quick service restaurant chain from the US to enter the country, had opened in Almaty. The firm said these were the first of 12 restaurants that will be opened in Kazakhstan over the next five years. "Kazakhstan is a market with tremendous growth potential and we wanted to take this opportunity to employ a 'first-mover' strategy in our segment," says Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE.