Hardee's facts for kids
Logo since 2018
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A Hardee's in Salem, Virginia
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Fast-food restaurants |
| Founded | June 23, 1960 Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Founder | Wilber Hardee |
| Headquarters | 6700 Tower Circle Franklin, Tennessee, U.S. 37067 |
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Number of locations
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5,812 (February 2016) |
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Area served
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United States, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates |
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Key people
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Ned Lyerly (CEO) |
| Products | |
| Parent | Imasco (1981–1997) CKE Restaurants (1997–present) |
Hardee's Restaurants LLC is a popular American fast-food restaurant chain. It is run by CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. You can find Hardee's restaurants mostly in the Southern and Midwestern parts of the United States.
The company started in 1960 in North Carolina. Over the years, it has been owned by different companies. In 1997, CKE Restaurants, which also owns Carl's Jr., bought Hardee's. This created a huge chain of restaurants. In 2018, the companies decided to make Hardee's and Carl's Jr. separate brands again. This was because Hardee's wanted to be known as a family-friendly restaurant.
Contents
The Story of Hardee's Restaurants
How Hardee's Began
Wilber Hardee (1918–2008) opened his first restaurant on September 3, 1960. It was located in Greenville, North Carolina. After a successful first year, Wilber wanted to open more locations. He met with James Gardner and Leonard Rawls to talk about expanding.
Soon after, the first company-owned Hardee's opened in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. This happened in May 1961. It was opened by James Carson Gardner and Leonard Rawls. The original building was taken down in 2007. A park for veterans now stands there.
A Disputed Ownership Story
Wilber Hardee once said that Gardner and Rawls won control of his company from him during a poker game. He claimed that after losing control, he sold them his remaining shares.
However, Gardner and Rawls disagreed with this story. They said they simply bought out Wilber Hardee. They then started to set up new restaurants as franchises in 1961. Jack Laughery, who was the CEO of Hardee's later on, said that Leonard Rawls and Jim Gardner were key to building the company.
Rawls and Gardner sold their first franchises to friends. These friends then built many more Hardee's locations. Hardee's Food Systems became a public company in 1963. Rawls was the president. Gardner, who was the vice president, left the company in 1966. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
Early Menu and Growth
In 1964, a hamburger cost 15 cents at Hardee's. A cheeseburger was 20 cents. French fries were 10 cents. They also sold apple turnovers, milk, coffee, soft drinks, and milkshakes. The milkshakes came in chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla flavors.
By the end of the 1960s, Hardee's had almost 200 restaurants. They were located in the Midwest and Southwestern U.S. They also opened their first international restaurants in West Germany. Around this time, Hardee's also started to grow in the mid-Atlantic states.
In 1972, Hardee's bought another restaurant chain called Sandy's. In the mid-to-late 1970s, Hardee's grew very quickly. They made good profits from popular sandwiches like the "Big Twin" and the "Big Deluxe." Hardee's also bought Dee's Drive-In, a burger chain from Utah.
In 1977, Hardee's started offering its breakfast menu across the country. This included their famous "Made from Scratch" breakfast biscuits.
Changes in Ownership and Menu
A Canadian company called Imasco Limited bought Hardee's in 1981. In 1982, Imasco also bought Burger Chef. Many Burger Chef locations were changed into Hardee's restaurants. Others were closed down.
In the early 1980s, a new management team tried to save money. They changed the recipe for their main burger. They also removed the "Big Twin" from the menu. The "Big Deluxe" was still sold through the 1990s.
For a few years in the early 1990s, Hardee's also owned the Roy Rogers Restaurants fast-food chain. Hardee's restaurants then sold fried chicken using the Roy Rogers recipe. They hoped to compete with KFC. Hardee's also owned Rax Roast Beef for a while and sold roast beef sandwiches.
Joining Forces with Carl's Jr.
In April 1997, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., which owns Carl's Jr., bought Hardee's. This created a chain of 3,828 restaurants. There were 3,152 Hardee's in 40 states and 10 other countries. There were 676 Carl's Jr. mostly in California.
At first, the plan was to change all Hardee's restaurants into Carl's Jr. However, Hardee's had very strong breakfast sales. So, by 1999, CKE decided to keep the Hardee's name. They updated Hardee's to look like Carl's Jr., including the Happy Star logo. They also added some of Carl's Jr.'s lunch items. But the breakfast menu stayed the same.
In 2001, Hardee's main office moved to St. Louis, Missouri. In 2005, Hardee's started selling Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes & Malts.
In 2013, Hardee's announced it would open more restaurants in the Northeastern United States. By 2015, Hardee's had opened its 300th restaurant in the Middle East. This was with a long-time partner, The Americana Group.
In 2015, Hardee's was ranked as the 28th largest food service chain in the U.S. Carl's Jr. was 37th. If their sales were combined, they would be ranked 15th.
In 2015, Hardee's also started offering "The All-Natural Burger." This burger had first been launched at Carl's Jr. in 2014. As of March 2016, CKE had a total of 3,664 restaurants. These were in 44 states and 37 other countries.
Hardee's Advertising Campaigns
In 2006, Hardee's showed a new logo. It had script writing and kept the famous Happy Star. This helped to make the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands look more alike. Hardee's also sold special Super Bowl pins in the early 1990s.
Carl Hardee Sr. Commercials
In March 2017, Hardee's started a new advertising campaign. It featured a character named "Carl Hardee Sr." played by Charles Esten. In the commercials, Carl Hardee Sr. returned to the office. He found his son, "Carl Jr.," was focusing too much on fancy advertising. Carl Sr. wanted to focus more on the food itself. This campaign aimed to make Hardee's a strong competitor to other burger chains like Five Guys and In-N-Out Burger.
Tastes Like America Campaign
In 2018, CKE started making separate ads for Hardee's and Carl's Jr. again. For Hardee's, they launched the Tastes Like America campaign. For this campaign, Hardee's brought back its 1976 logo, but in white. The Happy Star still appeared, replacing the letter 'A' in "Tastes."
Hardee's Around the World
Many Hardee's restaurants outside the U.S. are in the Middle East and Pakistan. Most of these are owned and run by The Americana Group. The first Hardee's in the Middle East opened in Kuwait in June 1980.
As of 2016, there are over 300 Hardee's restaurants in Asia and the Middle East. You can find them in countries like Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. There are also plans to open in Israel.
Hardee's used to have restaurants in Singapore and South Korea, but they closed down. They also left Hong Kong in 2006.
In the Middle East and Pakistan, the Hardee's menu does not include any pork items. All the beef is certified Halal. This is because of religious and cultural beliefs in these regions. Pakistan got its first Hardee's in 2009 in Lahore. Today, Pakistan has eighteen Hardee's locations.
There is also a Hardee's restaurant at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, in Africa.
See also
- Carl's Jr.
- Jack Laughery
