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Originally separate companies serving different geographic areas (with Checkers serving the Southeast and Rally's serving the Midwest), Checkers and Rally's merged in August 1999. Generally speaking, the Checkers name remains used in the Southeast as well as the Northeast while the Rally's name remains used in the Midwest as well as California; the two brands have overlap in several areas.[citation needed]

The merged company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Most locations specialize in carryout service with drive-thru and walk-up windows available, but no indoor seating, though some legacy Rally's locations in the Midwest retain dining rooms, as well as two Checkers locations with indoors dining areas in both Clearwater and Orlando, Florida. Checkers was founded in 1986 in Mobile, Alabama by Jim Mattei and went public in 1991. Rally's was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1985 by Jim Patterson.[4] In 1991 and 1992, Rally's absorbed Maxie's of America, Snapps Drive-Thru, and Zipps Drive-Thru.[5]

The H.B. Reese Candy Company was established in 1923 by H. B. Reese in Hershey, Pennsylvania.[6] The official product name was "Penny Cups" because they could be purchased for one cent.[7] Reese had originally worked at a Hershey dairy farm, and from the start, he used Hershey chocolate in his confections. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were his most popular candy, leading Reese to eventually discontinue his other lines.[8] Reese died in 1956, passing the company to his six sons, Robert, John, Ed, Ralph, Harry, and Charles Richard Reese.[9] On July 2, 1963, the Reese brothers merged the H. B. Reese Candy Company with the Hershey Chocolate Corporation in a tax-free stock-for-stock merger. In 1969, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups became the Hershey Company's top seller.[10]