A second Carl's Jr. will open near Maalea Harbor on Maui by April or May, said Suzi Brown, the fast-food chain's public relations manager.

Partners in the 22-restaurant agreement are CKE Inc., based in Anaheim, Calif., Roger Mercier, chairman of Merrill Financial Corp., a new corporation based in Honolulu and Steve and Roberta Brown, both vice presidents at Merrill Financial.

The first five restaurants will be in conjunction with Unocal Corp., in a format that includes a gas station and convenience store, said Steve Brown.

"That's just one of the ways we will be going to get into the (Hawaii) market," Brown said.

The Unocal relationship with Carl's Jr., has been used on the mainland to meet the trend of "quick-serve restaurants," said Doug Harris, spokesman for the Hawaii venture.

Mercier is an experienced restaurant operator who brought Denny's to Hawaii, said Brown.

He now lives in Palos Verdes, Calif.

CKE Inc. is the acronym for Carl Karcher Enterprises, named for the chain's founder. It is the holding company for CKE Restaurants Inc. and Boston Pacific Inc. which owns, franchises and licenses the restaurants.

The company operates about 660 restaurants in California, Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon and has about 12,000 employees. Boston Pacific also operates about 27 Boston Market stores in California.

The chain evolved from a hot-dog cart purchased in 1941 by Carl Karcher and his wife, Margaret. They opened a drive-in barbeque restaurant four years later in Anaheim.

Carl's Jr. restaurants serve charbroiled hamburgers, baked potatoes, french fries, salads, chicken sandwiches and other foods.